BV  3265  .J66  1903 

Jones,  John  Peter,  184  7- 

1916. 
Xndla  '  s    paroblem  Kxrlahna    or 

Christ 


INDIA'S   PROBLEM 
KRISHNA  OR  CHRIST 


H^^p,:,,  .iffwas  ^Ki 

J 

#^s^3ffllilliF ' " 

^1^^ 

<»i.Sii^iif» 

India's   Problem 
Krishna  or  Christ 


.«/ 


JOHN  P.  JONES,  D.D. 

OF  Southern  India,  A.  B.  C.  F.  M. 


New  York     Chicago     Toronto 

Fleming    H.    Revell    Company 

London    and    Edinburgh 


Copyright  i  903  by 
FLEMING  H.  REVELL  COMPANY 

[January) 
Entered  at  Stationers'  Hall 


New  York:  158  Fifth  Avenue 
Chicago:  63  Washington  Street 
Toronto:  27  Richmond  Street,  W. 
London:  21  Paternoster  Square 
Edinburgh:    30    St.    Mary   Street 


To 

My  Wife 

Without  whom  the  following  pages 

could  not  have  been  written 


"  Yes,  it  shall  come !     E'en  now  my  eyes  behold, 
In  distant  view,  the  wish'd-for  age  unfold, 
Lo,  o'er  the  shadowy  days  that  roll  between, 
A  wand'ring  gleam  foretells  th'  ascending  scene. 
Oh,  doom'd  victorious  from  thy  wounds  to  rise. 
Dejected  India,  lift  thy  downcast  eyes. 
And  mark  the  hour,  whose  faithful  steps  for  thee 
Through  Time's  press'd  ranks  bring  on  the  Jubilee !  " 


PREFACE 

THE  following  pages  are,  practically,  the  re- 
sult of  a  course  of  lectures  given,  on  the 
Hyde  foundation,  at  the  Andover  Theological 
Seminary  in  the  fall  of  1902.  Some  of  the  chapters 
were  also  used  in  lectures,  delivered  during  the  year, 
at  the  Yale  and  Hartford  Theological  Seminaries  and 
at  the  Western  Reserve  University.  Small  portions 
have  appeared  in  Reviews  and  Magazines  but  have 
been  much  changed  in  the  transfer.  The  cordial 
welcome  accorded  the  lectures,  including  an  ex- 
pressed desire  that  they  be  published,  has  led  to 
their  appearance  in  this  more  permanent  form. 

India  should  be  better  known  to  Europe  and 
America.  I  trust  that  the  following  pages  may  help 
the  student  to  understand  the  vast  country  and  to 
realise  the  greatness  of  the  problems  connected  with 
Christian  work  in  the  land;  may  they  also  stir 
within  many  a  strong  desire  to  present  Christ  to  that 
great  people,  and  inspire  a  hope  in  the  ultimate  and 
speedy  triumph  of  our  cause  in  the  land  of  the  Vedas. 

I  gratefully  express  my  indebtedness  to  the  Rev. 
J.  L.  Barton,  D.  D.,  for  his  valuable  suggestions  and 
kindly  sympathy,  and  also  to  the  Rev.  W.  P.  Elwood 
for  his  kind  help  in  proofreading. 

JOHN  P.  JONES. 

Pasumalaiy 
So.  India. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

I.     The  Land  and  the  People 13 

1  The  Physical  Features  of  the  Land 13 

2  The  People 15 

3  Economic  Conditions 18 

4  Social  Life 23 

(a)     The  Family 24 

Id)     Society 26 

5  The  Educational  System 27 

6  The  Political  Situation 31 

7  The  Government  of  India 37 

8  The  Mission  of  Great  Britain  in  India 45 

11.     The  Religions  of  India 54 

1  Judaism 55 

2  Mohammedanism 56 

3  Parseeism 57 

4  Buddhism •  59 

5  Jainism     ...        60 

6  Sikhism 61 

7  Hinduism 62 

(a)     Incarnation 72 

(^)     Vicarious  Atonement 73 

(c)  Spirituality 74 

(d)  Eschatology 75 

(e  )     Doctrine  of  Faith 76 

IIL     Hinduism  and  Christianity  Contrasted  ...  80 

1  In  their  Initial  Conceptions 80 

(a)     Concerning  Religion 80 

(3)     Conceptions  of  God 81 

(c)     Theories  of  the  Universe 84 

{(/)    Concerning  Man 85 

2  Their  Ultimate  Aims 87 

3  Agency  and  Means  of  Each 91 

4  Their  Processes 97 

5  Their  Ideals loi 

6  Their  Credentials 103 

9 


/" 


lo  CONTENTS 


7     Other  Distinguishing  Traits Io6 

{a)     Their  Attitude  towards  the  Individual  and 

Society io6 

{d)     Their  Attitude  towards  Progress     ....  io8 

(r)     Christianity  Exclusive io8 

\d)     Hinduism  an  Ethnic  Faith,  while   Chris- 
tianity is  a  Missionary  Religion        .    .  109 
(<?)     Christianity   a    System   of    Truths   to    be 

Believed no 

(/)     Difference  in  Moral  Standards    .    .    .    .    .no 
Conclusion 112 


IV.     The  Products  of  the  Two  Faiths 114 

1  The  Hindu 115 

(tz)     His  Prepossessions 116 

\b)     His  Ideals 1 18 

\c)     His  Social  Status 123 

[d)     His  Moral  Character 125 

2  The  Native  Christian 128 

(a)  Socially 131 

\b)  Morally 133 

(<r)  Religiously 136 

{d)  Spiritually 138 


V.     The  Women  of  India 143 

1  Her  Ancient  Honour  and  Present  Power  ....  144 

2  Her  Present  Disabilities 152 

3  The  Dawn  of  a  New  Day 159 


VI.     The  History  of  Christian  Effort  in  India   .  163 

1  The  Syrian  Church  of  Malabar 164 

2  The  Efforts  of  the  Romish  Church 166 

3  Protestant  Missionary  Effort 168 

{a)     Continental  Effort 168 

{b)     British  Effort 172 

(r)     Australian  Effort 177 

i^d)     Recent  European  Missions 178 

((?)     American  Effort 179 

4  The  Differences  between  Past  and  Present  Effort  .  188 

[a)  Ecclesiastical  versus  Ethical    .....  188 

(b)  Mutual  Sympathy  and  Appreciation  .    .    .  189 

(r)  Knowledge  of  the  People 189 

{d)  Educational  Work 190 


CONTENTS  n 


VII.  The  Missionary i93 

1  Physical  Fitness •    •  ^94 

2  His  Methods  of  Life 197 

3  His  Intellectual  Ability  and  Training 204 

4  Spiritual  Qualifications.  Patience,  Humility,  Love  .  210 

5  His  Attitude  towards  the  Non-Christian  World  .    .  214 

6  His   Relationship  to  the  Missionary  Society  and 

the  Home  Churches 219 

7  His  Relationship  to  His  Mission 222 

8  His  Relationship  to  the  People  Among  Whom  He 

Lives 224 

VIII.  Missionary  Organization 228 

1  Home  Organization 228 

2  Organization  of  Missions 234 

3  Organized  Activities  in  Missions 240 

{a)     Evangelistic  Department 242 

{b)     Pastoral  Work 245 

(c)     The  Educational  Department 248 

Schools  for  Non-Christians 248 

Schools  for  Christians 249 

Institutions  for  Training  Mission  Agents  .  250 

{d)     Literary  Department         252 

(e)     Medical  Work 255 

(/)     Work  for  Women 256 

(g)     Work  for  the  Young 257 

(h)     Organizations  for  the  Special  Activities  of 

the  Native  Church 259 

Those  which  Promote  Self-Government  .  259 
Those  which  Promote  Self-Extension  .  .  260 
Those  who  Further  Self-Support  .    .    .    .261 

IX.    Present  Day  Missionary  Problems  ......  263 

1  The  Right  of  the  Christian  Church  to  send  its 

Missionaries 264 

2  Missionary  Aims  and  Motives 265 

3  The  Caste  Problem ^7° 

4  Self-Support  of  Missions 274 

5  Mission  Educational  Work 277 

6  The  Industrial  and  Economic  Problem 2»2 

7  Mission  Administration 26 

8  Problems  Concerning  New  Converts   .    .    .    ...  285 

(a)     Shall  Polygamous  Converts   be  Received 

into  the  Christian  Church  ? 288 

{b)     Immediate  Baptism 290 

{c)     Secret  Baptism 291 

9  Revival  of  Eastern  Thought 292 


12  CONTENTS 

X.     Missionary  Results 298 

1  Present  Missionary  Appliances 300 

(a)     Property  Owned 300 

(6)     Literature  Prepared 301 

(c)  Institutions  Established 303 

[d)  Native  Agents  Employed 304 

2  The  Native  Christian  Community 307 

(a)     Its      Size.       Growth.      Mass-movements. 
Motives.    Poverty.    Self-Denial.    Social 

Status.     Transformation 307 

(d)     Its  Character.     Christian  Womanhood  .    .  320 
{c)     Its  Organizations  and  Growing  Power  .    .  324 

(d)  Its  Offerings 325 

(e)  Its  Missionary  Work 327 

(/)     America's  Share  in  this  Work 328 

XL     Missionary  Results  (Continued) 332 

3  The  Leaven  of  Christianity 332 

(a)     In  the  Laws  of  the  Land 337 

(d)     A  Transformed  Hinduism 341 

(c)     The    Attitude   of    People   Contiguous   to 

Missions 346 

(//)     New  Religious  Movements 348 

Brahmo  Somaj 349 

Arya  Somaj 351 

The  Educated  Classes 353 

Attitude  towards  Christ 357 

Conclusion 359 

Appendix ,  365 

Index 375 


LIST  OF  ILLUSTRATIONS 


Rock-cut  Temple,  South  India     . 

Hospital  for  Women,  Madura  Mission 

Maharajah  of  Travancore    . 

Rajah  of  Ramnad     .... 

Temple  of  Buddha's  Tooth,  Ceylon 

Oldest  Relics  of  Buddhism,  Ceylon 

A  Typical  Buddhist  Priest    . 

Idol  Worship  .  .       .       .       . 

Religious  Mendicants     . 

House  of  a  Missionary  in  India 

A  Village  Christian  Church 

American  Church  in  Southern  India 

College  Hall  of  the  Madura  Mission 

Village  Christian  Church,  South  India 

High  and  Normal  School  for  Girls,  Madura 

Theological  Students  with  their  Families 

Group  of  Madura  Pastors     .... 

A  Junior  Christian  Endeavor  Society 

A  Village  Christian  School 

A  Brahman  Gentleman   . 

Swami  Vivekananda 

S.  Sattianathan,  Esq.,  LL.D. 

Mrs.  S.  Kruba  Sattianathan 

Sacred  Tank  in  Madura  Temple 

Hospital  for  Men,  American  Madura  Mission 

Madras  Christian  College   . 

Bombay  Railway  Station 


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India  s  Problem   Krishna  or  Christ 


THE  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE 

NO  country  in  the  Orient  is  of  greater  inter- 
est to  the  West  today  than  is  India.  It  is 
picturesque  in  its  life,  wonderful  in  its  his- 
tory, remarkable  in  its  present  conditions  and  fasci- 
nating in  its  promise  for  the  future. 

It  is  a  land  most  worthy  of  study  both  for  what  it 
has  been,  for  what  it  is  and  for  what  it  is  to  become; 
as  the  arena  for  the  greatest  conflict  upon  which  our 
Faith  and  Civilization  have  ever  entered;  and  for  their 
most  magnificent  triumph  in  the  world. 

Moreover,  India  is  now  peculiarly  wedded  to  the 
Anglo-Saxon  race.  For  good  or  for  evil  the  destiny 
of  that  country,  socially,  politically,  intellectually  and 
religiously,  is  linked  with  that  of  the  Anglo-Saxon; 
and  we,  as  a  part  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race,  cannot, 
even  if  we  would,  shake  off  our  connection  with,  and 
responsibility  for,  it. 

I.     The  Physical  Features  of  That  Land. 

It  is  a  very  extensive  land.     More  a  continent  than 

a  country,  it  stretches,  from  east  to  west,  a  distance 

of  1,900  miles;  and  it  extends  the  same  distance  from 

the  Himalayas  on  the  north  to  Cape  Comorin  on  the 

13 


14  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

south.     It  covers  an  area  equal  to  one-half  of  that  of 
the  United  States. 

It  is  physically  divided  into  three  portions.  The 
first,  on  the  north,  includes  the  Himalaya  Mountains, 
which  separate  it  from  the  rest  of  Asia  and  which 
furnish  an  important  element  in  the  meteorological 
conditions  of  the  country.  Then  from  the  base  of 
this  mountain  range  extend  the  plains  of  the  great 
rivers  which  issue  from  the  mountains  themselves. 
Again,  from  the  southern  boundaries  of  these  plains 
gradually  rises  a  very  extensive  three-sided  table- 
land reaching  towards  the  coast  on  both  eastern  and 
western  sides,  and  extending  to  Cape  Comorin  on 
the  south.  There  may  be  added  to  this  the  narrow 
strips  of  coast-land  on  the  east  and  west.  In  the 
land  are  found  some  of  the  greatest  and  most  won- 
derful rivers  in  the  world.  The  Ganges,  which  is 
the  queen  of  Indian  rivers,  carries  life  and  fertility  to 
a  population  greater  than  that  of  the  whole  United 
States.  After  a  course  of  1,557  miles  it  empties,  into 
the  Bay  of  Bengal,  1,800,000  cubic  feet  of  water  per 
second,  which  is  half  as  much  again  as  the  water  of 
the  Mississippi,  and  nearly  six  times  as  much  as  that 
of  the  Nile  at  Cairo. 

It  is  a  land  wonderful  in  the  variety  of  its  climates. 
It  is  difficult  to  imagine  greater  contrasts  than  those 
existing  between  the  various  climates  of  India — from 
the  eternal  snows  in  the  north  to  the  fierce  and  con- 
stant heat  of  the  tropics  in  the  south;  from  the 
practically  rainless  expanse  of  the  western  plains  of 
Sind  to  the  600  inches  of  rainfall  which  deluges  the 
eastern  mountain  slopes.  No  land  is  more  exten- 
sively cultivated  and  none  gives  more  fruit  in  return 


rhe  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE   15 

for  human  labour  than  India.  The  Ganges,  by  the 
abundant  silt  which  it  carries,  brings  fertility  and 
fruitfulness  to  its  valleys.  Even  the  plains  of  Sind, 
which  are  nearly  rainless,  are  transformed  into  life 
by  large  irrigation  schemes. 

Rice,  wheat  and  millets  are  the  three  staples  of  the 
country.  In  the  north,  wheat  furnishes  sixty  per 
cent,  of  the  cultivated  area.  This  total  area  under 
wheat  cultivation  in  India  is  estimated  to  be  equal  to 
that  of  all  the  wheat-fields  of  the  United  States.  One- 
fourth  of  the  population  of  India  lives  on  rice;  and 
various  kinds  of  millets  represent  fifty-two  per  cent, 
of  the  whole  cultivation  of  the  land.  Though  the 
methods  of  cultivation  there  are  primitive  and  the 
implements  used  inadequate  for  best  results,  yet 
through  the  rich  climatic  conditions  and  the  persistent 
efforts  of  the  people  the  land  normally  yields  an 
abundance  of  good  things  for  the  support  of  its 
inhabitants. 

2.    The  People. 

The  people  of  India  number,  according  to  the 
census  of  1901,  291,236,000— about  one-fifth  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  globe.  This  population  represents 
more  races  than  are  found  in  the  whole  of  Europe. 
Besides  many  small  tribes,  it  has  eleven  nations, 
the  least  of  which  numbers  2,250,000  souls.  Of 
these  nations  seven  are  of  Aryan,  and  four  of  Dra- 
vidian,  extraction;  and  they  differ  in  physique,  tem- 
perament and  language.  Between  the  sturdy  Aryan 
on  the  north  and  the  degraded  primitive  people  on 
the  plains  of  the  south  there  is  a  great  gulf.  Be- 
tween the  clever  and  subtle  Baboo  of  Bengal  and  the 


i6  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

war-like  Marahtta  of  the  west,  the  bold,  spirited 
Pathan  in  the  north  and  the  passive  but  enduring 
Dravidian  in  the  south,  there  are  many  intermediate 
classes  which  furnish  wonderful  diversity  of  character 
and  temperament.  Among  these  people  there  is  not, 
and  cannot  at  present  be,  a  sense  of  oneness.  Until  re- 
cently their  whole  civilization  tended  to  emphasize  their 
divergence,  to  broaden  the  breach  between  them  and 
to  cultivate  a  perpetual,  mutual  jealousy  and  hatred. 

The  languages  spoken  by  these  people  are,  ac- 
cording to  the  census  of  1891,  seventy  in  number.^ 
Of  these  the  Sanskrit  is  the  oldest,  and  may  truly  be 
called  the  mother  tongue  of  the  country.  It  is  one 
of  the  most  ancient  languages  in  the  world,  with  a 
history  of  more  than  3,000  years.  It  is  strong,  pliant, 
expressive — a  worthy  vehicle  of  noble  thought  and 
religious  aspiration.  Though  not  spoken  today  by 
any  tribe  or  people,  it  is  not  a  dead  language,  for  it  is 
the  religious  tongue  of  India.  The  best  thought,  the 
deepest  philosophy,  the  highest  religious  aspiration, 
the  laws,  customs  and  legends  of  the  people  are 
treasured  in  that  tongue.  All  who  would  know  the 
religious  life  and  thought  of  India  at  its  best  and  in 
its  sources,  should  study  Sanskrit.  From  it  have 
sprung  many  of  the  languages  of  Modern  India.  In 
the  northern  and  northwestern  parts,  the  Aryan 
tongues  find  supremacy.  Although  these  languages 
differ  greatly  among  themselves,  their  source  and 
vocabulary  is  mainly  Sanskrit.  Of  all  Indian  lan- 
guages, the  one  most  widely  spoken  is  the  Hindi — 
88,000,000  people  use  it  as  their  mother  tongue. 

1  Some  of  these,  doubtless,  are  only  well-developed  dialects. 
Many  other,  more  imperfect,  dialects  might  be  added  to  this  total. 


The  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE   17 

Forty-one  millions  speak  Bengali,  18,000,000  speak 
Punjabi,  19,000,000,  Marathi,  11,000,000  speak  Guju- 
rathi. 

The  Dravidian  languages  of  South  India  are  entirely 
separate  from  the  Aryan  group,  their  source  and 
character  being  Turanian.  These  languages  are 
Tamil,  Telugu,  Kanarese  and  Malayalam.  Fifty- 
three  million  people  speak  these  tongues  alone. 

The  inhabitants  of  India  are  an  ancient  people. 
When  thirty  centuries  ago  our  ancestors  were 
grovelling  in  the  lowest  depths  of  primitive  savagery, 
our  fellow-Aryans  of  India  were  enjoying  a  civiliza- 
tion of  their  own,  which  was,  in  its  way,  unique 
and  distinguished.  Their  philosophy  shows  testi- 
mony to  their  ancient  glory.  It  may  truly  be  said 
that  their  chief  glory  is  to  be  found  more  in  ancient 
than  in  modern  times.  It  is  a  people  whose  progress 
has,  in  some  respects,  been  backward  rather  than 
forward,  and  whose  boast  is  rightly  of  what  they 
have  been  rather  than  of  what  they  are. 

It  is  a  conservative  people.  India  is  a  land  where 
custom  is  deified — the  past  is  their  glory.  Today, 
we  are  living,  they  say,  in  the  iron  age  (Kali  Yuga), 
in  which  righteousness  is  all  but  lost.  Hindu  law 
has  conserved  the  past — it  exalts  past  observances 
above  those  of  the  present.  Under  such  a  system  all 
innovations  are  out  of  place,  individual  ambitions  are 
crushed.  To  resemble  their  ancestors  is  the  summum 
bonum  of  their  life. 

The  inhabitants  of  that  land  are  a  rural  people. 
Unlike  western  countries,  India  has  very  few  large 
towns.  Nine-tenths  of  the  whole  population  live  in 
villages  of  less  than  5,000,  four-fifths  live  in  villages  of 


i8  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

under  i,ooo  inhabitants.  The  average  village  of  India 
today  contains  363  inhabitants.  During  the  last  few 
years  the  tendency  has  been  towards  towns.  But 
the  large  increase  in  the  population  is  still  to  be  seen 
in  rural  regions.  In  India  two-thirds  of  the  villages 
have  less  than  200  inhabitants  each,  while  1,000  have 
from  5,000  to  10,000  inhabitants.  Notwithstanding 
this  fact,  the  population,  in  some  parts  of  the 
country,  is  very  dense.  The  whole  of  Bengal 
furnishes  360  persons  to  the  square  mile,  and  in  the 
United  Provinces  of  Agra  and  Oudh  the  total  per 
square  mile  rises  to  416. 

Owing  to  modern  methods  of  sanitation,  to  peace 
and  to  general  prosperity,  the  population  has  grown 
and  is  growing  rapidly.^  There  is  already  one  person 
to  every  two  acres  of  land  in  the  country;  and  under 
the  British  Government  the  prosperity  of  India  is 
largely  measured  by  the  growth  of  the  population  ; 
and  this  in  turn  seriously  increases  the  difficulty  of 
providing  for  the  wants  of  the  people.  Indeed  it  has 
become  one  of  the  hardest  problems  which  confronts 
the  Indian  government;  and  the  difficulty  is  con- 
siderably enhanced  by  the  religion  of  the  country 
which  demands  that  every  man  and  woman  marry 
and  add  to  the  population,  regardless  of  any  question 
as  to  health  or  even  sanity.  In  India  the  first 
privilege  and  duty  of  man  and  woman  is  supposed 
to  be  the  propagation  of  their  kind. 

3.    Economic  Conditions. 
One  of  the  most  marked  characteristics  of  India  is 

'  The  extensive  famines  of  the  last  few  years  have  reduced  this 
increase  to  twp  and  one  half  per  cent,  during  the  last  decade, 


The  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE  19 

its  poverty.  The  people,  as  a  whole,  have  always 
been  extremely  poor.  There  has  been  some  wealth 
in  the  land;  but  it  has  not  been  evenly  distributed. 
While  a  few  nabobs  have  enjoyed  immense  treasures, 
the  people,  as  a  whole,  have  grovelled  in  the  lowest 
depth  of  penury  and  want.  There  is  better  distribu- 
tion of  wealth  today  than  ever  before;  and  yet  the 
poverty  of  the  masses  continues  to  be  a  serious 
feature  of  the  land.  "  Its  finance  lies  at  the  base  of 
every  difficulty  connected  with  our  Indian  Empire," 
is  the  remark  of  Sir  Charles  Dilke.  And  at  the  base 
of  the  finance  difficulty  lies  the  poverty  of  the  people. 
It  is  a  well  known  and  lamentable  fact  that  one-fifth 
of  the  population,  say  sixty  millions,  are  insufficiently 
fed  even  in  ordinary  years  of  prosperity.  They  are 
the  ever  ready  prey  of  the  first  drought,  distress  or 
famine  that  may  happen.  It  is  a  not  uncommon  ex- 
perience of  the  ryot  (or  farmer)  to  retire  at  night 
upon  an  empty  stomach.  The  average  income  of 
the  common  labourer  in  India  is  between  four  and 
five  rupees,  or,  say,  $1.50  per  month. 

Most  of  this  evil  which  the  people  endure  is  self- 
imposed.  They  reveal  a  combination  of  blind  im- 
providence, reckless  expenditure  and  an  unwilling- 
ness to  shake  off  impoverishing  customs.  For 
instance,  the  debt  incurring  propensity  of  the  native 
is  akin  to  insanity.  All  the  poor  people  with  whom 
I  am  acquainted  are  bound  hand  and  foot  by  this 
terrible  mill-stone.  And  the  interest  paid  upon  loans 
is  crushing.  Two  and  three  per  cent,  per  month  is  an 
interest  commonly  received.  It  is  rare  that  a  poor 
farmer  who  gets  into  the  clutches  of  the  money 
lender  regains  his  freedom.     It  usually  leads  to  the 


20  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

loss  of  all  property  and  means  of  support.  Under 
the  ancient  Hindu  law  no  money  lender  could  re- 
cover interest  upon  a  loan  beyond  the  amount  of  the 
principal  which  he  had  advanced;  under  the  present 
rule  he  can  recover  to  any  extent,  sell  the  tenant's 
crops  and  even  take  possession  of  the  land  under  a 
judgment  decree.  It  is  one  of  those  instances  where 
justice  in  law  is  made  to  minister  unrighteousness 
and  cruelty  in  life.  The  people  moreover  are  given 
to  the  most  extravagant  expenses  at  marriages  and 
funerals.  It  is  frequently  the  case  that  a  man  spends 
upon  the  marriage  of  his  son  or  daughter,  the  latter 
especially,  more  than  a  whole  year's  income.  I 
know  of  many  who  are  overwhelmed  by  debts  in- 
curred for  the  marriage  of  their  children;  and  the 
saddest  thing  about  it  is  that  they  have  little  option  in 
this  expense;  for  it  is  prescribed  by  caste  custom. 

Add  to  this  the  rank  growth  of  religious  mendi- 
cancy, under  the  fostering  care  of  religious  teaching 
and  superstition.  There  are  five  and  one-half  millions 
of  such  lazy,  worthless  fellows  encumbering  that 
land  today.  The  mass  of  them  are  sleek  in  body 
and  pestilential  in  morals.  Whenever  a  man  finds 
work  too  hard,  he  dons  the  yellow  cloth  of  the 
religious  mendicant  and  becomes  an  immediate 
success.  But  alas  for  the  community!  Hindu 
charity  is  proverbial,  but  it  is  blinder  than  love  itself. 
Such  a  body  of  worthless  consumers  would  tax  even 
a  wealthy  land.  To  India  it  is  a  dreadful  burden  and 
drain. 

Add  to  this  the  insane  passion  for  jewels  which 
consumes  both  high  and  low.  Millions  of  rupees* 
worth  of  gold  flows  into  the  country  annually,  and 


rhe  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE  21 

most  of  it  is  melted  and  converted  into  personal 
adornments  for  women  and  children.  For  this  pur- 
pose nearly  one-half  million  goldsmiths,  according 
to  the  last  census,  are  employed  and  make  a  com- 
fortable living  at  an  annual  expense  of  ten  million 
dollars.  This  is  a  much  larger  force  of  workmen  than 
that  of  all  the  blacksmiths  in  the  land. 

The  litigious  spirit  of  the  people  is  also  phenomenal. 
It  is  doubtful  if  any  other  people  on  earth  spend, 
relative  to  their  means,  more  in  legal  processes  than 
the  Hindus.  In  view  of  all  these  facts,  Sir  W.  W. 
Hunter's  statement  that  ''The  permanent  remedies 
for  the  poverty  of  India  rest  with  the  people  them- 
selves "  is  eminently  true.  It  is  further  emphasized 
by  the  remarks  of  Sir  Madhava  Rao,  K.  C.  S.  I.,  one 
of  the  very  few  statesmen  whom  India  has  produced 
among  her  own  children:  "The  longer  one  lives, 
observes  and  thinks,"  he  says,  "the  more  deeply 
does  he  feel  there  is  no  community  on  the  face  of  the 
earth  which  suffers  less  from  political  evils  and  more 
from  self-inflicted,  self-accepted,  or  self-created,  and 
therefore  avoidable,  evils  than  the  Hindu  com- 
munity." 

Famine  is  an  oft-recurring  and  most  perplexing 
evil  with  which  India  has  always  been  familiar.  In 
times  past,  it  was  the  gaunt  Avenger  which  decimated 
the  people  and  which  kept  down  the  population 
within  the  range  of  tolerable  existence.  The  god  of 
dirt  and  insanitation  carried  away  the  unneeded  resi- 
due left  by  famine.  Famine  is  one  of  the  very  few 
evils  before  which  human  power  stands  helpless. 
The  government  has  done  very  much  by  irrigation 
schemes  and  by  the  building  of  railways  to  mitigate 


22  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

this  evil.  By  famine  funds  and  relief  works  it  strives, 
as  it  did  the  last  famine,  to  reduce  the  mortality  and 
suffering  arising  from  these  seasons  of  drought.  But 
the  constant  penury  of  the  people,  and  the  fact  of 
their  always  living  upon  the  verge  of  hunger  and 
want,  make  it  almost  impossible  to  save  many  from 
the  terrible  result  of  such  visitations.  Perhaps  there 
is  no  other  thing,  at  present,  which  occupies  more  of 
the  time  and  thought  of  the  Imperial  Government 
than  this  ;  but,  to  drive  entirely  away  this  hideous 
demon  from  a  land  which  is  peculiarly  liable  to 
drought,  and  while  the  people  are  chronically  unpre- 
pared to  meet  the  least  extra  drain,  is  more  than  can 
be  expected  from  any  government. 

The  railroads  of  the  land  are  manifestations  of  the 
material  progress  which  meet  one  on  all  sides.  In 
the  extent  of  its  railroads  India  is  the  fifth  country  in 
the  world.  Already  the  splendid  railway  system, 
upon  which  travel  is  as  comfortable  as,  and  perhaps 
cheaper  than,  in  any  other  country  in  the  world,  has 
extended  23,000  miles  and  reaches  the  remotest  parts 
of  the  land.  These  throbbing  arteries  carry  life  and 
enterprise  to  all  portions  of  India;  and  many  regions 
not  yet  made  thus  accessible  will  soon  listen  to  the 
neigh  of  the  iron  horse  and  feel  the  pulsations  of 
new  life  thereby.  Three  hundred  million  pounds 
sterling  have  been  expended  in  this  work  alone. 

But  better,  if  possible,  than  these  roads  is  the  rapidly 
developing  irrigation  system  which  brings  security 
of  life  and  works  prosperity  wherever  it  reaches. 
Nearly  14,000,000  acres  are  now  cultivated  under  this 
system.  This  equals  fourteen  and  eight-tenths  per 
cent,  of  all  cultivated  land  in  India.     One  great  enter- 


The  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE  23 

prise  in  this  line  is  the  '' Peryar  Project"  of  South 
India  which  was  large  in  its  conception,  perfect  in 
its  execution  and  is  rich  in  its  blessings.  It  consists 
in  the  diversion  of  a  large  river  which  vainly  poured 
its  treasures  down  the  western  mountainside  into  the 
Arabian  Sea,  and  causing  its  waters  to  flow  into  the 
eastern  plains  to  fertilize  the  thirsty  land  as  far  as  the 
Bay  of  Bengal.  It  embraces  the  second  largest  dam 
in  the  world,  a  tunnel  one  and  one-fourth  miles 
through  the  mountain,  and  many  miles  of  distribut- 
ing channels.  It  will  irrigate  at  least  150,000  acres 
for  rice  cultivation  and  will  feed  400,000  people.  I 
live  in  the  heart  of  the  region  thus  fertilized  and  re- 
freshed, and  know  the  joy  of  the  residents  who  also 
stand  astonished  before  the  magic  power  of  these 
white  people  who  do  for  them  what,  they  say,  even 
their  gods  failed  to  accomplish.  It  is  well  to  remem- 
ber that  these  irrigation  schemes,  now  found  in  India, 
are  much  the  most  extensive  in  any  country. 

Looking  at  her  commerce  during  the  Victorian 
reign  alone,  we  see  a  growth  of  1,000  per  cent,  in 
the  imports  and  exports  of  India.  The  export  of  tea 
has  risen  from  nothing  to  70,000  tons,  and  that  of 
cotton  from  nothing  to  220,000  tons.  There  are  now 
in  the  land  150  cotton-mills  with  150,000  labourers. 
Three  million  tons  of  coal  are  annually  mined,  and 
gold  mines  yield  ^1,000,000  sterling  every  year.  It 
may,  indeed,  be  said  that  India  has  now,  for  the  first 
time  in  its  history,  taken  a  place  as  a  land  of  manu- 
factures, trade  and  commerce. 

4.    Social  Life. 
The  contrast  between  the  social  life  of  the  East 


24  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

and  that  of  the  West  is  marked.  Problems  that  to- 
day stir  this  land  to  its  depth  have  no  existence  in 
India.  The  conservatism  of  India  is  proverbial.  The 
Hindu  people  have  been  kept  back  from  all  progress, 
so  that  questions  arising  about  human  rights  and 
liberty  have  not  begun  to  be  mooted  there.  The 
thousand  problems  of  our  land  are  the  direct  result  of 
the  emphasis  which  our  civilization  has  given  to 
human  rights  and  individual  freedom  and  the  equal- 
ity of  men.  India  has  thus  far  denied  to  the  individ- 
ual those  rights  and  liberties  which  are  deemed 
elementary  and  fundamental  in  the  West.  Its  em- 
phasis has  always  been  upon  the  rights  and  privileges 
of  Society  as  a  corporate  body.  It  has  ignored  en- 
tirely the  claims  of  the  individual  and  has  prevented 
him  from  enjoying  his  inalienable  rights  in  any  divi- 
sion of  society.  This  may  be  seen  in  the  two  great 
departments  of  life  in  that  land. 

{a)  The  Family. 

The  family  systems  of  the  East  and  of  the  West 
are  essentially  different.  In  India  the  Joint  Family 
System  prevails.  According  to  this  system  members 
of  a  family  for  three  generations  live  together  and 
have  all  things  in  common.  No  member  of  the 
family  can  claim  anything  as  his  own.  It  is  the  old 
patriarchal  system  and  emphasizes  the  rights  of  the 
family  as  a  whole,  and  denies  to  any  individual  mem- 
ber separate  possession  or  privileges.  This  system 
has  had  a  long  day  in  India;  but,  as  western  ideas 
are  spreading,  dissatisfaction  is  manifestly  increasing, 
especially  among  the  educated  classes.  The  recent 
introduction  to  the  Madras   Legislature  of  the  so- 


The  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE  25 

called  "Gains  of  Learning  Bill"  is  the  first  serious 
attack  made  upon  that  system.  By  means  of  this 
bill,  which  was  introduced  by  an  orthodox  Hindu, 
but  which  is  not  yet  passed,  an  educated  man  could 
claim  exclusive  right  to  ownership  of  all  properties 
acquired  by  him  through  his  education.  Thus,  for 
the  first  time  in  India  an  individual  might  claim, 
apart  from  the  family,  that  wealth  which  was  ac- 
quired by  himself.  This  bill  has  brought  opposition 
from  the  public,  because  it  conflicts  with  the  rights  of 
the  joint  family,  and  is  a  serious  blow  to  all  the  old 
Hindu  family  privileges.  The  Hindu  joint  family 
system,  while  it  has  been  a  source  of  some  blessing 
to  the  land,  has  also  been  a  serious  curse  in  that  it 
has  fostered  laziness,  dissension  and  improvidence, 
and  has  put  a  ban  upon  individual  initiative  and 
ambition. 

Child  marriages  have  been  an  unfailing  source  of 
evil  to  the  land.  Of  this  Sir  John  Strachey  says: 
*Mt  would  be  difficult  to  imagine  anything  more 
abominable  than  the  frequent  consequences  of  child 
marriages  by  which  multitudes  of  girls  of  ten  to 
twelve  or  less  are  given  over  to  outrage;  or,  if  they 
belong  to  the  higher  class  of  Hindus,  are  doomed  to 
lives  of  degraded  widowhood." 

The  Indian  government  has  endeavoured  to  remove 
this  evil;  but  at  all  points  it  has  been  opposed  not 
only  by  conservative,  orthodox  Hindus,  but  also  by 
educated  members  of  the  community.  No  system 
can  degrade  the  womanhood  of  a  race,  nor,  indeed, 
for  that  matter,  its  manhood,  more  than  that  which 
marries  .its  girls  in  childhood  and  which  consigns 
millions  of  them  to  wretched  widowhood.     One  of 


26  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

the  consequences  is  that  girls  of  even  twelve  years 
are  known  to  become  mothers  in  that  land,  while 
very  few  attain  the  age  of  eighteen  without  bearing 
children.  An  increasing  population  under  these 
physical  conditions  cannot  be  a  healthy  or  a  vigor- 
ous one. 

{b)  Society. 

In  India,  Society  is  almost  exclusively  the  product 
of  the  ancient  caste  system.  A  more  elaborate  social 
system  than  this  was  never  known  in  the  world.  It 
is  an  order  of  social  tyranny  of  the  worst  sort, 
whereby  every  man  is  compelled  to  give  up  his  own 
individuality  and  to  be  bound  to  the  iron  will  of  an 
ignorant  community:  a  will  also  which  is  based  upon 
the  past  and  conforms  to  the  rules  and  habits  of  peo- 
ples who  lived  in  remote  antiquity.  No  greater  mill- 
stone could  be  hung  around  the  neck  of  any  people 
than  that  of  the  multitudinous  caste  rules  of  Manu 
and  later  accretions  which  are  the  all  in  all  of  Hindu 
life.  There  may  have  been  good  in  this  system  in 
the  past,  and  it  may  have  conserved  some  blessings 
of  antiquity ;  but  today  it  is  the  worst  tyranny  and 
the  greatest  curse  that  has  blasted  the  life  of  the  peo- 
ple. It  is  the  source  of  their  physical  degeneracy,  for 
it  compels  them  to  marry  within  narrow  lines  of 
consanguinity.  It  has  cursed  the  people  with  a  nar- 
row sympathy;  for  no  man  in  that  system  deems  it 
his  duty  to  bless  or  help  those  beyond  his  own  caste. 
It  has  sown  poverty  broadcast  over  the  land;  for  it 
prohibits  a  man  from  engaging  in  any  work  or  trade 
which  is  not  prescribed  by  caste  rules  and  customs; 
and  thus  has  brought  many  to  penury,  want  and 


rhe  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE  27 

famine.  When  the  caste-prescribed  occupation  or 
work  is  not  available,  the  suffering  is  very  great. 

It  has  brought  stagnation  to  the  people  by  restrain- 
ing every  man  who  had  ambition  to  move  forward 
and  improve  his  prospects  in  life.  The  whole  village 
regards  as  conceited  a  young  man  of  the  outcastes 
who  seeks  to  rise  in  life;  they  soon  bring  him  low. 
Progress  is  impossible  under  the  caste  system. 

In  like  manner,  it  has  fostered  the  pride  and  pre- 
sumption of  one  class  and  destroyed  the  ambition 
and  aspiration  of  the  other.  No  people  on  earth  to- 
day are  more  proud  than  the  Brahmans;  none  more 
hopelessly  abject  than  the  Pariahs  and  other  outcastes. 

It  has  also  made  national  unity  and  the  spirit  of 
fellowship  impossible  in  the  land;  large  corporate  in- 
terests are  impossible  for  the  people.  The  castes  of 
the  community  are  filled  with  jealousy  and  are  mu- 
tually antagonistic;  each  division  having  rules  and 
ceremonies  which  make  it  impossible  for  communion 
of  interests  with  others.  Many  would  like  to  see  it 
removed;  but  the  system  itself  has  created  such  ab- 
jectness  of  feeling  among  them  that  they  dare  not 
come  forward  to  stem  its  tide  or  oppose  it. 

5.    The  Educational  System. 

Ignorance  still  rests  like  a  pall  upon  that  land. 
According  to  the  census  of  1891,  out  of  a  total  popu- 
lation of  261,840,000,  133,370,000  were  males.  Of 
these,  1 18,819,000  were  analphabet.  Including  boys 
under  instruction,  only  14,550,000  could  read  and 
write.  Of  the  128,470,000  females  only  740,000 
could  read  and  write  or  were  being  instructed.  In 
other  words,  only  eleven  per  cent  of  the  males  and 


28  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

a  little  more  than  one-half  of  one  per  cent,  of  the 
females  were  in  any  sense  literate.  In  Madras,  we 
find  the  greatest  progress;  but  even  there  eighty-five 
per  cent,  of  the  male  and  ninety-nine  per  cent,  of  the 
female  population  are  illiterate.  In  Oudh,  on  the 
other  hand,  corresponding  figures  are  ninety-four  and 
very  nearly  one  hundred  per  cent.  When  it  is  re- 
membered that  the  Brahmans,  who  constitute  only 
five  per  cent,  of  the  total  population,  include  seven- 
teen per  cent,  of  the  literate  class  and  more  than 
twenty  per  cent,  of  those  who  know  English,  it  can 
be  understood  that  the  illiteracy  of  the  common 
people  is  still  greater  than  that  indicated  by  the 
above  figures. 

Considerable  effort  has  been  made  by  the  govern- 
ment to  educate  this  immense  population.  It  is 
seriously  handicapped  in  this  endeavour  by  want  of 
funds.  The  State  does  not  largely  enter  into  the  es- 
tablishing of  schools  of  its  own;  its  policy  being  to 
give  grants  in  aid  to  private  bodies  on  the  basis  of 
results  achieved.  And  it  contents  itself  with  the  es- 
tablishing and  conducting  of  relatively  only  a  few 
schools  of  its  own  which  shall  serve  as  models  and 
as  a  stimulus  to  the  private  aided  institutions.  More 
than  three-fourths  of  the  education  of  the  land  is  thus 
conducted  by  private  bodies  which  are  encouraged 
by  the  government  through  its  grants  in  aid.  There 
still  remain  not  a  few  indigenous  or,  so-called, 
**piair'  schools.  Educationally,  these  schools  are  of 
little  value,  as  their  training  is  both  antiquated  in 
kind  and  extremely  limited  in  quantity.  They  are 
interesting  because  they  reveal  to  us  the  old  educa- 
tional methods  of   the  land.     Schools  on   modern 


The  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE  29 

lines,  however,  by  coming  under  government  sur- 
veillance, for  the  purpose  of  receiving  grants  in  aid, 
are  conducted  much  more  efficiently,  and  attain  re- 
sults worthy  to  be  compared  with  those  of  western 
lands.  The  chief  feature  of  the  educational  system, 
controlled,  examined  and  aided  by  government,  is  the 
emphasis  given  to  an  English  training.  From  the 
second  year  of  instruction,  the  English  language 
grows  annually  in  importance  in  the  curriculum  of 
studies.  In  the  grammar  school  it  becomes  com- 
pulsory and  in  the  high  school  and  college  it  is  the 
sole  medium  of  the  communication  of  knowledge. 
The  English  language  is  emphasized  also  because  it  is 
the  test  for  admission  even  into  many  of  the  lowest 
of  the  numberless  offices  in  connection  with  govern- 
ment service;  so  that  the  study  of  this  language  of 
the  West  has  become  to  young  India  practically  a 
necessity  and  a  craze.  People  of  the  lowest  condi- 
tions in  life  pawn  and  mortgage  their  property  and 
involve  themselves  in  terrible  debts  for  the  sake  of 
giving  their  sons  an  English  education. 

Christian  missions  constitute  one  of  the  principal 
bodies  which  engage  in  the  training  of  Hindu  youth. 
One-ninth  of  all  the  school  children  of  India  are 
found  in  mission  schools.  This  number  includes 
330,000  boys  and  nearly  100,000  girls.  In  the  train- 
ing of  girls,  Protestant  missions  have  not  only  been 
pioneers;  they  are  also  today  much  the  most  promi- 
nent and  efficient  educators  of  the  women  of  the 
land.  Their  girls'  schools  and  colleges  are  not  only 
the  most  numerous,  but  also  the  most  efficiently  con- 
ducted and  thoroughly  managed  of  all  institutions 
for  women  in  India.     The  Madras  Christian  College 


30  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

for  boys  and  the  Sarah  Tucker  Woman's  College  of 
Tinnevelly  are  among  the  best  institutions  for  those 
classes  in  India.  The  educational  system  of  India 
culminates  in  the  five  Universities  of  Calcutta,  Bom- 
bay, Madras,  Allahabad  and  Lahore.  These  are  not 
instructing,  but  simply  examining  universities  like 
the  University  of  London.  With  these  the  140  col- 
leges of  two  grades  and  of  various  degrees  of  effi- 
ciency, are  affiliated.  In  these  colleges  are  found 
18,000  students  of  whom  more  than  5,000  graduate 
yearly.  The  city  of  Calcutta  is  a  city  of  many  col- 
leges and  has  more  college  students,  relative  to  its 
population,  than  almost  any  city  of  the  West. 

Though  the  masses  of  the  people,  and  especially 
the  women,  are  still,  as  we  have  seen,  grossly  igno- 
rant, yet  every  year  encouraging  progress  is  being 
made  in  spreading  the  blessings  of,  and  in  creating  a 
taste  for,  education.  Every  year  natives  themselves 
enter  more  largely  into  the  educational  work  and  find 
in  it  not  only  a  living,  but  also  a  noble  scope  for  their 
activities.  Among  the  higher  and  cultured  classes 
there  is  a  growing  body  of  young  men,  besides  the 
ambitious  few  from  the  lower  classes,  crowding  into 
the  higher  institutions  of  the  land.  It  is  one  of  the 
problems  of  the  day  to  direct  the  mind  of  this 
increasing  army  of  university  graduates  to  other 
professions  than  the  overcrowded  government  serv- 
ice. There  is  a  persistent  feeling  among  these  youth 
that  it  is  the  business  of  State  to  supply  them  with 
lucrative  posts  upon  their  graduation.  And  it  is  the 
disappointed  element  of  this  class  which  furnishes  so 
many  of  the  discontented,  blatant,  demagogues  who 
are  almost  a  menace  to  the  land. 


T:he  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE  31 

Yet  this  educational  work  is  one  of  the  potent, 
leavening  influences  of  the  country,  and  is  helping 
greatly  in  carrying  quietly  forward  one  of  the 
mightiest  revolutions  that  have  been  witnessed  in 
any  land.  In  its  train  follows  closely  the  social 
elevation  of  the  people.  The  relaxation  of  the 
terrible  caste  system,  the  elevation  of  woman  and 
her  redemption  from  some  of  the  cruelties  and 
injustice  of  the  past,  immediately  attend  that  ex- 
panding knowledge  which  results  from  the  schools 
of  the  land. 

Protestant  missions  are  preeminent  in  their  work 
of  educating  the  Christian  communities  gathered  to- 
gether by  them.^  Though  these  communities  are 
largely  drawn  from  the  lowest  outcastes,  yet  they 
compare  favourably,  in  their  educational  equipment, 
with  the  highest  classes.  This  is  a  significant  indi- 
cation of  their  present,  and  a  bright  promise  for  their 
future,  position  among  the  people  of  India. 

6.  The  Political  Situation. 
India  today  is  politically  a  subject  country. 
Though  in  one  sense  England  did  not  directly  sub- 
jugate India,  it  is  nevertheless  true  that  its  inhabit- 
ants, though  treated  with  large  consideration,  are 
today  a  subject  people— ruled  by  a  foreign  nation 
7,000  miles  away.  Hence,  it  might  be  expected  that 
political  rights  and  privileges  would  not  prevail  there 
as  among  a  self-governing,  entirely  independent, 
people.  The  existence  of  an  army  of  about  75,000 
Britons  in  that  land  today  is  significant  of  the  situ- 
ation and  partly  reveals  one  grip  with  which  Great 

J  This  subject  is  treated  more  fully  in  later  chapters. 


32  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

Britain  holds  India  and  makes  it  a  part  of  her  great 
empire.  I  do  not  wish  to  minimize  the  moral  power 
with  which  also,  and  increasingly,  Great  Britain 
draws  India  by  sweet  compulsion  to  herself;  of  this 
I  shall  speak  later. 

It  should  also  be  remembered  that  the  genius  of  the 
Orient  is  not  for  self-government;  in  the  East,  people 
have  little  taste  for  free  institutions;  they  have  always 
craved,  and  found  their  greatest  happiness  and  chief 
welfare  in,  a  strong  paternal  government.  The  ordi- 
nary Hindu  seeks  for  himself  nothing  higher  than  a 
government  which,  while  not  asking  for  his  opinion 
concerning  its  policy  and  acts,  will  at  least  dispense 
a  fair  modicum  of  justice  to  him  and  his. 

Notwithstanding  all  this,  the  Indian  government 
has  bestowed  upon  the  people  a  wonderfully  large 
meed  of  power  and  privilege.  Political  progress  in 
the  land  is  one  of  the  marvels  of  the  past  century. 
Before  the  British  entered  India  that  land  had  never 
enjoyed  the  first  taste  of  representative  institutions. 
Today  the  query  which  arises  in  the  mind  of  dis- 
interested persons  who  know  and  love  India  is, 
whether  political  rights  and  liberties  have  not,  of  late 
years,  been  conferred  too  rapidly  upon  them.  It 
should  not  be  expected  that  a  people  who,  by  in- 
stinct and  unbroken  heritage,  are  the  children  of  the 
worst  kind  of  autocratic  and  absolute  government, 
should  acquire,  in  one  age  or  century,  wisdom  or 
aptitude  to  rule  themselves.  The  mass  of  Hindus 
love  to  be  led  and  they  follow  easily. 

But  there  is  a  small  and  growing  party  of  the  soil 
who  have  aptly  learned  many  of  the  lessons  taught 
them  by  the  rulers.     The  best  acquired  of  all  these 


rhe  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE  33 

lessons  is  that  of  the  power  of  agitation  and  of  the 
efficacy  among  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  of  the  cry  for 
human  rights.  The  only  difficulty  is  that  one  might 
suppose,  from  the  language  of  some  of  these  men 
that  England  has  not  yet  conceded  to  worthy  Indians 
any  of  those  political  privileges  which  every  Anglo- 
Saxon  citizen  demands  for  himself.  As  a  matter  of 
fact,  we  see  in  the  municipalities  of  that  land  a  form 
of  popular  government  such  as  even  not  all  western 
countries  enjoy.  The  power  of  the  franchise,  in  the 
election  of  municipal  commissioners,  is  vested  in  all 
those  who  are  possessed  of  the  least  amount  of 
property.  Even  women  enjoy  the  franchise;  and  it 
is  a  curious  fact  that  the  natives  of  South  India  have 
recently  protested  in  the  newspapers  against  the 
granting  of  this  power  to  women,  because,  they  say, 
the  power  is  exercised  only  by  ''dancing  girls  "  and 
other  public  characters.  To  those  who  watch  care- 
fully the  working  of  this  right  of  municipal  franchise 
and  see  how  easily  and  speedily  the  natives  have 
adopted  all  the  vices  and  tricks  of  the  system,  it  does 
not  by  any  means  seem  an  unmixed  good.  And  the 
hardest  critics  of  the  system  that  I  have  met  have 
been  intelligent  and  loyal  Indians  who  believe  that 
this  meed  of  self-government  is  fraught  with  evil. 
The  District  Boards  also  are  composed  almost  entirely 
of  native  gentlemen,  and  they  have  large  powers  in 
the  administration  of  the  internal  affairs  of  the  land. 
Moreover  these  municipal  and  local  bodies,  together, 
elect  members  for  provincial  legislative  bodies  where 
they  enjoy  recently  enlarged  powers  for  interpellating 
the  government — a  power  which,  by  excessive  use  or 
abuse,  they  may  soon  forfeit. 


34  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

To  all  this  must  be  added  the  freedom  of  the  press, 
which  also  has  recently  been  abused  by  the  dissemi- 
nation of  disloyal  and  seditious  sentiments,  but  which 
adds  immensely  to  the  powers  of  the  people. 

Then  the  ''National  Congress"  is  a  peculiar  insti- 
tution which,  while  it  gives  scope  to  the  political  as- 
pirations of  many  natives,  adds,  by  its  very  existence, 
to  the  lustre  of  the  British  Raj  in  the  land.  Just  im- 
agine for  a  moment  the  existence  of  such  a  Congress 
under  Russian  rule!  It  is  true  that  this  Congress, 
which  meets  annually  in  some  great  city  of  the  land, 
has  no  connection  with  government  or  legislative 
bodies  and  has  only  that  power  and  influence  which 
inhere  in  its  deliberations  and  resolutions.  It  is  also 
true  that  up  to  the  present  it  has  given  itself  largely 
to  the  criticism  and  abuse  of  government.  By  this 
it  has  alienated  some  of  its  best  friends.  Still,  even 
as  a  public  censor  it  has  doubtless  done  good,  and 
offers  to  the  discontented  a  wholesome  vent  for  pent 
up  feelings.  It  is  also  a  remarkable  gathering  in  its 
numbers  of  cultured  men  and  illustrates  one  of  the 
wonders  which  Great  Britain  has  accomplished  in 
that  land.  To  think,  that  out  of  the  babel  of  Indian 
tongues  there  should  gather  together  in  one  place 
annually  some  5,000  native  gentlemen  to  discuss 
questions  of  State,  and  to  criticise  one  of  the  most 
modern  of  governments  in  the  pure  English  accents 
of  Addison  or  of  Macaulay!  What  a  wonderful  ob- 
ject lesson  of  progress  this! 

Nor  is  Great  Britain  as  remiss  or  as  selfish  as  many 
would  lead  us  to  believe  in  the  distribution  of  the 
loaves  of  office.  There  are  only  122,661  male  Brit- 
ishers   in  that  land   (including  the  army) — one  to 


rhe  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE  35 

every  2,500  of  the  population.  Of  these,  only  750 
are  found  in  the  higher  offices  of  government. 
In  the  Provincial  Services  2,449  natives  are  employed 
in  high  judicial  and  administrative  posts.  It  is  a  sig- 
nificant fact  that  out  of  1 14, 150  appointments,  carry- 
ing Rs.^  1,000  annually,  ninety-seven  per  cent,  are  in 
the  hands  of  natives.  To  all  offices,  below  that  of  the 
Governor  of  the  Province,  natives  are  eligible.  As 
Judges  of  the  High  Court  and  as  Members  of  the 
legislative  bodies  not  a  few  Indians  are  found;  as 
they  are  also  in  the  Indian  Civil  Service  which  was  so 
long  exclusively  filled  by  Anglo-Indians.  It  hardly 
appears  how  England  can  hold  that  great  land  to  her- 
self, as  a  member  of  her  empire,  with  fewer  of  her 
own  citizens  than  are  now  found  at  the  helm.  Nor 
does  it  yet  appear  that  a  strong,  efficient  and  ac- 
ceptable government  can  be  maintained  there  by  a 
large  reduction  of  this  force.  I  use  the  word  ''ac- 
ceptable" advisedly;  and  it  is  certainly  the  business 
of  Great  Britain  to  discover  and  consult  the  wishes 
of  the  people— not  of  the  hungry  office  seekers — in 
this  matter.  After  many  years  of  observation  and  of 
living  among  the  people,  I  am  convinced  that  nine- 
tenths  of  them  are  prepared  any  day  to  vote  in  favour 
of  the  relative  increase,  and  not  the  decrease,  of  the 
European  official  force.  The  people  have  found  them 
to  be  just  and  honest;  they  know  that  they  can  be 
depended  upon  to  administer  justice  with  an  even 
hand  and  that  they  are  incorruptible.  In  their  own 
native  officials  they  have  no  confidence.  They  have 
found,  alas,  too  often  that  justice  is  sold  by  them  to 
the   highest   bidder.     The  "middle  men"  who  ar- 

1  The  rupee  is  at  present  one-third  of  a  dollar. 


36  INDIA '  S  PR  OBLEM 

range  such  matters  are  too  commonly  known  as  the 
accompaniments  of  the  native  courts  of  justice.  It  is 
true  that  some  native  judges  are  above  such  venality. 
But  I  know  how  general  is  the  want  of  native  confi- 
dence in  native  officials.  Many  a  time  have  1  been 
importuned  to  use  my  influence  to  have  cases  trans- 
ferred from  the  jurisdiction  of  the  native  to  the  Eng- 
lishman. And  the  reason  invariably  given  is  that 
**  The  white  man  will  not  accept  bribes  and  will  give 
justice."  Indeed,  it  may  be  said  that  the  chief  diffi- 
culty which  confronts  the  Government  in  its  great 
work  is  that  of  saving  the  people  from  low,  merce- 
nary and  unprincipled  native  officials— especially 
those  of  the  lower  and  lowest  grades. 

The  police  department  is  corrupt  to  the  core.  The 
common  people  dread  the  policeman  as  they  do  the 
highwayman;  for  the  constable  rarely  touches  a  case 
without  making  money  out  of  the  transaction;  and 
he  is  expert  in  manufacturing  cases. 

What  India  needs  today,  above  all  else,  is  an 
honest,  faithful,  efficient  class  of  officials.  The 
presence  of  a  few  English  dignitaries  found  there  is 
worth  ten  times  its  cost  to  the  land,  purifying  and 
toning  up  the  service. 

Considering  the  political  situation  as  a  whole,  I 
confidently  maintain  that  the  people  of  India  enjoy 
political  rights  and  privileges  quite  as  extensively  as 
they  are  prepared  wisely  to  exercise  them.  No 
people  anywhere  enjoy  larger  privileges,  relative  to 
their  ability  to  use  them  wisely;  and  no  subject 
people  on  earth  have  ever  been  treated  with  larger 
consideration  by  their  conquerors,  or  have  been  more 
faithfully  trained  to  enter  upon  an  ever  increasing 


The  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE  37 

Sphere  of  opportunity  and  of  self-government.  The 
political  situation  in  India  today— in  the  privileges 
and  rights  which  the  people  enjoy — is  a  marvellous 
testimony  to  the  wisdom  and  unselfishness  of  Great 
Britain  in  her  Indian  rule. 

7.    The  Government  of  India. 

The  government  of  India  is  perhaps  the  most 
elaborate  in  the  world ;  the  highest  powers  of  states- 
manship have  been  manifested  by  the  successive 
rulers  during  more  than  a  century  in  the  develop- 
ment of  a  State  which  is  extraordinary  no  less  in  the 
complication  of  its  provisions  and  details  than  in  the 
wise  adaptation  of  human  laws  to  meet  the  multitu- 
dinous exigencies  of  this  great  conglomeration  of 
peoples.  It  should  also  be  remembered  that  British 
statesmen  in  their  work  of  legislation  in  India,  and 
in  their  coordination  of  laws,  have  not  only  had  to 
consider  the  manifold  character  of  the  different  por- 
tions of  the  population  of  the  land ;  what  is  more  diffi- 
cult still,  they  have  been  compelled  to  ingratiate  them- 
selves with  the  Indians  by  conserving,  so  far  as  pos- 
sible, those  myriads  of  ancient  laws  and  customs 
which  obtain  there.  The  laws  of  Manu  and  of  other 
writers  of  twenty-five  centuries  ago  have  been  handed 
down  by  this  people  through  the  ages  and  have  ac- 
cumulated authority  and  reverence  with  increasing 
time,  untif  today  all  Hindus  regard  them  as  divinely 
given  and  as  possessing  irresistible  claim  upon  them 
for  all  time.  So  that,  while  it  may  be  said  on  the  one 
hand  that  the  laws  of  India  are  largely  built  upon  west- 
ern foundations,  and  savour  of  Christian  principles  and 
modern  ideas;  it  should  also  be  remembered,  on  the 


38  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

other  hand,  that  the  dicta  of  ancient  Hindu  lawgivers 
find  a  large  place  in  the  legal  codes  of  that  land. 

Yea,  even  more  than  this  is  true.  There  are  a  host 
of  caste  rules  and  customs  which  have  no  further 
sanction  than  the  fact  that  they  have  become  cus- 
toms, and  yet  which  have  been  dignified  with  the 
authority  of  law.  This  is  of  course  due  chiefly  to 
the  fact  that  most  customs  in  India  have  a  religious 
basis  and  interpretation,  and  therefore  draw  to  them- 
selves that  sanctity  and  claim  which  belong  to  things 
religious.  Thus,  for  instance,  every  caste  in  South 
India  has  its  own  marriage  customs.  Most  of  these 
are  highly  incongruous  with  modern  ideas  and  rights, 
and  most  of  them  absolutely  disregard  the  rights  of 
the  wife.  And  yet  it  has  been  deemed  wise  by  the 
State  to  conserve  and  to  give  the  sanction  of  law  to 
these  multitudinous  marriage  customs  which  are 
enough  in  themselves  to  constitute  an  extensive 
code. 

Some  conception  of  the  magnitude  of  the  work 
carried  on  by  the  Indian  Government  may  be  gath- 
ered from  the  following  description  by  Bishop  Tho- 
burn: — *'  With  a  population  greater  than  that  of  the 
five  great  powers  of  Europe  put  together;  with  a 
revenue  exceeding  $350,000,000;  with  a  foreign 
commerce  worth  1768,000,000  annually;  with  a 
standing  army  230,000  strong,  more  than  two-thirds 
of  which  are  composed  of  native  soldiers;  with  a 
drilled  police  force  of  more  than  150,000  men;  with 
a  code  of  laws  in  many  respects  superior  to  those 
found  on  the  statute  books  of  European  countries; 
and  with  courts  of  justice  as  impartial  and  as  faith- 
fully conducted  as  any  to  be  found  in  the  world, 


The  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE  39 

India  may  well  claim  a  place  among  the  great  em- 
pires of  the  present  era." 

The  British  Government  has  respected  the  posses- 
sions of  native  chiefs  in  whose  hands  still  remain 
about  one-third  of  the  country.  But  these  so  called 
native  territories  are  so  largely  under  English  con- 
trol and  guidance  that  we  may  well  regard  them  as 
essentially  a  part  of  the  British  Domain. 

The  Secretary  of  State  for  India  has  practically  the 
control  of  British  Indian  affairs.  He,  with  his  coun- 
cil in  London,  has  the  final  word  in  Indian  matters 
of  paramount  importance.  Nevertheless,  the  Indian 
Government  finds  this  power  rarely  antagonistic  in 
matters  whereon  it  has  firmly  made  up  its  mind. 

The  British  possessions  in  India  are  distributed  into 
twelve  governments,  each  separately  organized  and 
yet  all  of  them  constituting  parts  of  the  Supreme 
Government  of  India.  This  Supreme  Government  is 
administered  by  a  Governor-General  or  Viceroy  with 
whom  is  associated  a  Council  of  six  members.  This 
Council  constitutes  the  Viceroy's  Cabinet  and  each 
one  has  charge  of  a  separate  department  of  the  gov- 
ernment. 

Of  the  Provincial  Governments  of  India,  the  prin- 
cipal ones  are  the  Province  of  Bengal  with  71,000,- 
000,  under  a  Lieutenant-Governor;  United  Provinces. 
of  Agra  and  Oudh,  with  a  population  of  47,000,000, 
under  a  Lieutenant-Governor;  Presidency  of  Madras, 
with  35,500,000,  under  a  Governor;  Presidency  of 
Bombay,  with  18,800,000,  under  a  Governor;  and  the 
province  of  Punjab,  with  20,800,000,  under  a  Lieu- 
tenant-Governor. 

The   unit  of  government  in  India  is  the  District. 


40  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

The  whole  of  India  is  divided  into  2}^  Districts.  At 
the  head  of  a  District  is  placed  an  officer  known  as 
Collector,  Senior  Magistrate,  or  Deputy  Commissioner, 
who  is  practically  ruler  of  that  division.  He  is  the 
administrative  representative  of  the  government.  In 
each  District  there  is  also  a  District  Judge  and  a  few 
other  officers  at  the  head  of  various  departments. 
These  Districts  vary  in  size  and  population,  covering 
areas  from  14,000  to  1,000  square  miles,  and  con- 
taining from  3,000,000  to  250,000  population.  The 
average  population  of  a  District  is  800,000.  Nothing 
impresses  the  careful  observer  more  than  the  large 
amount  of  responsibility  and  the  multifarious  duties 
which  devolve  upon  these  District  officers.  During 
recent  years,  however,  authority  has  been  withheld 
increasingly  from  Collectors  and  centralized  in  the 
Provincial  Governments;  for  at  the  head  of  every 
Province  also  there  is  a  government  patterned  some- 
what after  the  Supreme  Government  in  Calcutta. 

No  greater  mistake  can  be  made  than  to  think  that 
India  is  either  crudely  or  poorly  governed.  Owing  to 
the  great  poverty  of  the  land  it  is  extremely  difficult  to 
maintain  so  costly  and  elaborate  a  regime  as  the 
present  one;  and  many  claim  that  for  the  support  of 
so  expensive  a  luxury  the  people  are  taxed  beyond 
their  ability  and  resources.  The  taxation  imposed 
by  a  government  on  its  people  is  rightly  considered, 
both  in  its  extent  and  character,  as  a  measure  of  the 
wisdom  of  the  State.  The  critics  of  the  Indian  gov- 
ernment are  prone  to  dwell  upon  the  alleged  injustice 
of  its  taxes.  It  is,  however,  difficult  to  understand 
why  this  matter  should  be  pressed  unless  it  be  on  the 
ground,   apparently  maintained,  that  the  poverty  of 


9 


the  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE  41 

the  people  should  exempt  them  from  any  of  the 
burdens  of  taxation — a  theory  beautifully  generous 
to  the  people  but  fatal  to  the  maintenance  of  any 
government.  The  salt  tax  does  certainly  seem  cruel 
in  its  severe  pressure  upon  the  very  poor;  and 
yet  it  is  the  only  one  whereby  this  very  large 
part  of  the  community  can  be  reached  at  all,  and 
made  to  contribute  its  mite  to  the  State  which  pro- 
tects it. 

Comparing  present  taxes  with  those  of  the  past, 
we  should  certainly  expect  heavier  imposts  now,  be- 
cause the  government  furnishes  today,  as  an  equiva- 
lent of  protection  and  blessing,  infinitely  more  than 
former  dynasties  did.  And  yet  Sir  W.  Hunter  has  ably 
shown  from  a  comparison  of  taxes  levied  by  the  pres- 
ent government  and  by  the  Moghul  government  that 
the  modern  Hindu  is  vastly  better  off  than  was  his 
ancestor  of  two  and  three  centuries  ago.  Today,  five 
and  one  half  per  cent,  is  collected  in  land  tax;  under 
the  Moghul  rule  they  had  to  pay  from  thirty-three 
per  cent,  to  fifty  per  cent.  Besides  this,  the  Moham- 
medan imposed  various  other  taxes,  many  of  them 
upon  non-Mohammedans  as  a  religious  penalty. 
Nor  were  the  Hindu  governments  one  whit  better 
off;  and  even  today  the  native  states  are  much 
harder  upon  the  people  than  is  the  British  Raj. 

The  famine  commission  is  the  highest  authority  on 
the  subject.  In  its  exhaustive  report  of  1880  it 
writes: — *'ln  the  majority  of  native  governments  the 
revenue  officer  takes  all  he  can  get,  and  would  take 
treble  the  revenue  we  should,  if  he  were  strong 
enough  to  exact  it." 

If  we  pursue  the  comparison  to  that  of  European 


42  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

peoples,  Indian  taxation  would  seem  but  a  trifle. 
Placing  even  English  taxes  side  by  side  with  India's, 
we  shall  find  instruction.  The  average  income  in  the 
United  Kingdom  is  £40,  while  the  tax  assessed  is 
445,  or  five  and  one-half  per  cent.  In  India,  alas,  the 
average  income  is  only  365.  But  then  the  tax  is  only 
15,  ()d  per  capita  which  is  a  trifle  smaller  per  capita 
than  that  for  England.  Here  again  we  are  impressed 
with  the  reasonableness  of  the  tax  imposed. 

The  opium  and  liquor  traffic  in  India  is  one  which 
has  drawn  forth  much  criticism.  From  the  moral 
standpoint  the  critics  have  a  very  strong  case.  The 
evil  which  the  opium  traffic  of  India  has  inflicted 
upon  China — against  her  will  too — has  been  enor- 
mous. The  large  army  of  opium  eaters  which  it  has 
created,  only  to  destroy  with  a  terrible  death,  has 
long  been  an  argument  to  which  no  nation  of  Eng- 
land's position  and  pretensions  can  render  satisfac- 
tory reply. 

In  like  manner,  the  State  monopoly  of  the  drink 
traffic  is  neither  honourable  nor  wise.  It  not  only 
gives  unwonted  and  unwarrantable  dignity  to  a  dis- 
reputable business,  it  also  involves  the  State  in  the 
business  of  making  a  large  army  of  drunkards  in  the 
land.  To  take  up  a  traffic  like  this,  for  the  revenue 
there  is  in  it,  is  to  trifle  with  the  higher  interests  of 
the  subjects  and  to  become  instrumental  in  the  cor- 
ruption and  misery  of  the  people  whom  it  is  bound 
to  protect.  It  is  questionable  whether  any  other 
civilized  government  has  involved  itself  in  such  un- 
worthy means  of  creating  a  revenue.  Doubtless, 
opium  and  drink  represent,  morally,  the  weakest  part 
of  this  government.     Of  course,  the  all  important 


rhe  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE  43 

defense  lies  in  the  revenue  thus  acquired.  These  two 
items  of  revenue  flow  more  easily  than  any  others 
into  the  depleted  treasury  of  State.  To  give  these 
up  in  behalf  of  what  is  termed  sentiment,  would 
necessitate  the  imposition  of  other  heavy  taxes. 
This  is  an  aspect  of  the  question  which  too  easily 
silences  and  secures  the  acquiescence  of  the  people 
of  India.     But,  its  evil  is  great  and  is  spreading. 

The  drink  curse  is  rapidly  becoming  one  of  the 
trying  problems  of  India.  It  was  slanderously  re- 
marked some  years  ago  that  if  the  English  then  left 
that  country  the  only  monuments  left  behind  of  their 
life  would  have  been  broken  whiskey  bottles !  There 
is  indeed  ground  today  for  the  fear  that  if  England 
were  to  abandon  the  land,  it  would  leave,  as  the 
saddest  monument  of  its  past,  an  immensely  increas- 
ing army  of  drinkers;  and  this  evil  is  further  en- 
hanced by  the  mean  ideal  of  life  which  the  ordinary 
Englishman  sets  before  Hindus  by  his  passion  for  the 
cup.  Half  a  century  ago  an  Englishman  died  while 
on  duty  in  the  jungles  in  South  India,  and  his  body 
was  there  buried  in  the  wilderness.  The  natives 
soon  erected  a  shrine  over  his  grave  and,  for  a  long 
time,  offered,  in  true  sobriety,  whiskey  and  cheroots 
to  appease  his  thirsty  and  unsatisfied  spirit!  It  is  not 
strange  that  the  natives  should  recognize  a  continuity 
of  spirit-taste  in  the  here  and  the  hereafter  of  the 
Sahib! 

The  recent  utterance  of  the  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury on  this  subject  should  be  heeded  by  the  State. 
"The  true  principle  of  morals,"  he  says,  *Ms  to  have 
nothing  whatever  to  do  with  that  which  is  shown  to 
be  necessarily  productive  of  evil.     The  English  na- 


44  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

tion  caused  the  opium  evil  in  China  and  we  are  re- 
sponsible for  that  evil.  I  also  protest  against  the 
principle  of  raising  revenue  by  temptations  to  evil. 
It  might  be  right  for  a  government  to  pause  before 
interfering  with  private  trade;  but,  in  this  case  we 
ourselves  are  carrying  on  the  evil  trade.  Such  a 
thing  on  the  part  of  a  great  government  is,  I  think, 
without  a  parallel  in  the  whole  world." 

The  Army  in  India  is  a  necessary  but  great  evil 
in  the  expense  which  it  involves  to  the  government, 
no  less  than  in  the  evil  life  which  it  leads  among,  and 
the  evil  example  which  it  sets,  the  native  community. 
Its  influence  is  deplorable.  It  is  the  most  vulnerable 
to  attack  of  all  departments  of  government,  both  on 
the  score  of  expense  and  character.  ''  Tommy  At- 
kins "  is  the  greatest  trial  to  the  Hindu,  and  brutally 
rides  rough-shod  over  all  his  sensibilities.  If  he 
could  only  be  left  at  home  with  safety  to  British 
interests  in  the  land,  it  would  help  largely  to  improve 
the  situation  between  the  two  races.  It  would  also 
save  England  from  the  terrible  disgrace  of  immorality 
which  the  army  is  instrumental  in  carrying  as  a 
plague  wherever  it  goes.  Awful  indeed  is  the  preva- 
lence of  the  social  vice  in  the  native  community  itself; 
but  the  English  Army  spreads  the  demoralization  in 
a  most  disgraceful  way. 

Considering  the  government  as  a  whole,  then,  it  is 
wonderful,  both  in  the  extent  of  its  operation  and  in 
its  numberless  activities  and  agencies.  Its  purpose 
is  generally  noble,  and  its  wisdom,  both  in  the 
framing  of  laws  and  in  general  administration,  has 
been  most  marked.  The  occasion  of  most  of  its 
failings  and  weaknesses  is  the  poverty  of  the  people 


The  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE  45 

whereby  the  government  has,  at  times,  been  driven 
to  subterfuges  to  avoid  bankruptcy. 

8.     The  Mission  of  Great  Britain  in  India. 

The  British  people  are  only  today  beginning  to 
realize  fully  the  wonderful  mission  which,  under 
God's  providence,  they  are  called  to  fulfill  in  that 
great  land  of  the  Vedas.  For  nearly  a  century  the 
commercial  motive  was  not  only  paramount  but  was 
practically  the  only  motive  which  impelled  the 
Anglo-Saxon  in  his  contact  with  India.  Everything 
Indian  had  value  in  his  eyes  in  proportion  as  it  added 
to  his  revenues.  For  many  years  he  excluded  the 
Missionary  of  the  Cross  from  his  domains  in  the 
East,  lest  that  good  man  should,  by  teaching  the 
people,  disturb  the  revenue  of  the  Honourable  East 
India  Company.  As  the  domains  of  this  great 
company  extended  and  its  powers  multiplied,  the 
English  nation  gradually  came  to  realize  their  own 
responsibility  as  a  people  to  the  land;  and  the  Indians 
thus  were  brought  within  their  influence.  This  con- 
tact and  communion  of  interests  became  to  them  the 
voice  of  responsibility  and  of  obligation  to  impart 
their  blessings  to  them  as  well  as  to  take  their  ma- 
terial resources  from  them.  The  dawn  of  the  new 
altruistic  sense  towards  its  subject  people,  though 
long  deferred,  rapidly  grew  into  full  daylight;  and 
Great  Britain  today  feels,  as  no  country  has  felt  be- 
fore, its  privilege  and  duty  to  bestow  upon  its  de- 
pendency in  the  East  the  highest  and  best  which  it 
can  furnish. 

The  difficulty  of  England's  mission  in  India  is 
greatly  enhanced  by  the  difference  which  amounts 


46  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

almost  to  a  contrast  between  her  own  people  and  the 
inhabitants  of  India.  The  striking  difference  of  type 
and  character  existing  between  the  Anglo-Saxon  and 
the  Hindu  facilitates  all  sorts  of  misunderstanding 
between  them,  and  aids  perceptibly  in  making  the 
path  of  the  British  Raj  a  very  thorny  one  in  the  land. 
It  would  perhaps  be  impossible  to  find  two  peoples 
who  are  farther  removed  from  each  other  in  tem- 
perament and  training — whose  nature  and  antecedents 
are  more  irreconcilable  at  all  points.  While  the 
Anglo-Indian  is  bold,  frank  and  just,  even  to  harsh- 
ness, the  Hindu  is  subtle,  affable,  practiced  to  dis- 
simulation, with  ready  susceptibilities  to  temporize 
and  to  barter  justice  for  expediency.  On  the  one 
side,  we  see  the  Westerner  haughty,  unyielding  and 
unwilling  to  conciliate;  on  the  other  we  behold  the 
Oriental  willing  to  be  trampled  upon  when  it  seems 
necessary,  and  to  smile  with  apparent  gratitude  under 
the  process;  but,  withal,  possessed  of  a  large  in- 
heritance of  ineradicable  prejudices,  which  make  a 
contact  with  his  too  domineering  Western  lord  an 
unceasing  trial  to  him. 

There  is  another  point  at  which  the  two  races  are 
antipodal.  The  Briton  is  progressive  to  the  core. 
He  only  needs  to  be  assured  that  a  certain  course  is 
right  and  for  the  best  interests  of  the  community,  in 
order  to  adopt  it.  His  face  ever  looks  upward  and 
his  ambition  is  ever  to  go  forward.  But,  in  India  he 
lives  among  a  race  whose  chief  divinity  is  custom 
and  the  gist  of  whose  decalogue  is,  **  Hold  fast  to 
the  past."  As  they  approach  a  proposed  enterprise 
their  first  and  last  question  concerning  it  is  not 
whether  it  is  right  and  best,  but  whether  it  is  in  a 


rhe  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE  47 

line  with  the  past  and  would  be  approved  by  their  an- 
cestors. The  whole  country  has  been  anchored  for  the 
last  twenty-five  centuries  to  a  code  of  social  laws  and 
customs  which  are  more  unyielding  than  the  laws  of 
the  Medes  and  Persians.  With  them  conservatism  is 
the  acme  of  piety  and  propriety.  All  progress  has 
been  practically  forced  upon  the  country  from  with- 
out, and  in  the  teeth  of  their  most  sacred  institutions 
and  their  most  earnest  protestation  and  opposition. 
Thus  the  great  difference  between  the  two  peoples 
has  been  a  serious  hindrance  to  the  realization  of 
British  designs  in  that  land. 

Notwithstanding  all  this,  Great  Britain  has  pa- 
tiently, persistently  and  doggedly  carried  on  her 
work  and  pursued  her  highest  ideals  for  India. 

And  what  have  been  the  ideals  and  blessings  which 
she  is  seeking  to  achieve  for  that  great  land  ? 

The  first  is  that  of  Western  culture  and  civiliza- 
tion. In  these  two  particulars,  England  has  intro- 
duced into  India  a  perpetual  conflict.  Western  ideas, 
processes  of  thought,  points  of  aspect  and  ideals  of 
beauty  and  of  life  have  been  gradually  supplanting 
the  very  different  ones  of  the  East.  Western  life  in 
India  today  is  a  constant  challenge  to  the  people  to 
study,  admire  and  appropriate  its  many  features  of 
thought  and  conduct;  and  India  is  not  insensible  to 
this  call.  The  railroads  and  hospitals,  the  schools 
and  sanitary  projects  which  have  been  introduced  by 
the  West  into  that  land  are  markedly  transforming 
the  sentiment  and  the  life  of  the  people.  The  con- 
trast between  the  people  of  India  today  and  of  a 
century  ago  is  all  but  complete  in  this  respect. 
While  the  educational   institutions  of  the  land   are 


48  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

revolutionizing  the  thought,  the  more  material  ele- 
ments of  civilization  are  transforming  the  outer  life 
of  the  people. 

England  also  is  imparting  to  India  the  Anglo-Saxon 
conception  of  right,  of  law  and  of  justice.  In  order 
to  know  how  widely  apart  the  East  and  West  were 
in  this  respect,  one  should  live  in  India  a  few  years. 
The  idea  of  equal  rights  to  all  the  people,  of  freedom 
of  speech,  of  liberty  of  conscience  and  of  other  sim- 
ilar rights  which  are  regarded  as  elementary  and 
fundamental  in  the  West,  was  all  but  foreign  to 
India  when  England  established  her  power  there. 
That  the  government  itself  should  treat  high  and  low, 
the  poor  ryot  and  the  wealthy  rajah,  the  ignorant 
Pariah  and  the  cultured  Brahman  as  one  in  their 
claim  for  right  and  protection,  for  justice  and  for 
favour,  seemed  to  the  Hindu  absurd.  It  is  one  of  the 
best  commentaries  on  British  justice  and  administra- 
tion in  India,  that  the  people  have  now  come  not 
only  to  regard  it  with  satisfaction,  but  also  as  an  in- 
dispensable condition  of  their  life. 

The  blessings  of  peace  also  are  among  the  greatest 
which  England  has  conferred  upon  India.  *'  Pax 
Britanica "  is  equally  known  and  loved  today  in 
India  and  in  the  British  Isles.  From  time  immemo- 
rial India  had  been  torn  asunder,  not  only  by  inter- 
necine wars,  but  also  by  numerous  attacks  from 
the  peoples  of  other  countries.  India  has  always 
been  a  prey  both  to  the  decimating  wars  of  her  own 
unjust  and  ambitious  tyrants,  and  mutually  antago- 
nistic castes  and  tribes;  she  has  also  been  the  easy 
victim  of  any  hardy,  enlightened,  ambitious  people 
who  sought  to  invade  her.     The  presence  of  Great 


The  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE  49 

Britain  in  India  has  been  a  voice  commanding  peace 
to  its  troubled  and  exhausted  people.  With  a  strong 
hand  she  has  put  down  injustice  of  tribe  against 
tribe  and  made  impossible  inter-tribal  wars  and  raids. 
She  has  brought  rest  such  as  India  never  before  en- 
joyed and  has  given  safety  to  the  most  harmless  and 
innocent  classes,  as  she  has  peace  to  the  most  war- 
like and  aggressive  in  the  land.  This  great  land  of 
the  East  has  thus  had  opportunities  to  grow  and  to 
develop  in  many  of  the  most  essential  characteristics 
of  individual  and  national  progress.  These  blessings 
would  have  been  impossible  apart  from  the  peace 
which  Great  Britain  assured  and  wrought  out  for  the 
land. 

In  connection  with  this  we  need  to  emphasize  the 
various  forms  of  progress  which  are  an  essential 
part  of  British  blessing  to  India.  We  have  seen  that 
India  was  a  stagnant  land,  that  its  people  were  pre- 
eminently unprogressive  and  ultra-conservative. 
England  has  helped  her  to  break  down  many  of 
these  barriers  of  the  past.  Though  India  is  obsti- 
nately slow  in  her  acceptance  of  the  spirit  and  bless- 
ings of  progress,  England  has  thrust  upon  her  many 
of  the  conditions,  and  compelled  her  to  enter  into 
some  of  the  paths  of  progress  which  will  bring  in- 
estimable benefits  into  her  life. 

In  like  manner,  the  mission  of  England  has  been 
and  is  a  religious  one.  Her  Majesty,  Queen  Victoria, 
upon  assuming  authority  in  the  land,  issued  a  procla- 
mation to  the  effect  that  under  her  reign  all  the  in- 
habitants of  India  should  enjoy  perfect  right  to 
worship  as  they  please  and  whom  they  please.  It  is 
true   that  too  many  of  the   representatives   of  the 


50  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

British  Government  in  India  today  are  so  impressed 
with  the  importance  of  a  government  that  is  abso- 
lutely neutral  in  religious  matters,  that  they  have  both 
ceased  themselves  to  manifest  any  religious  prefer- 
ence in  their  life  and  are  scrupulously  careful  to  see 
to  it  that  Christians  get  just  a  little  less  of  right  and 
of  protection  than  the  adherents  of  other  faiths. 
This  they  consider  to  be  true  altruism  added  to 
breadth  of  religious  sentiment! 

Notwithstanding  this,  nothing  is  more  manifest  in 
India  today  than  that  the  very  fact  of  the  rulers  of 
the  land  being  nominally  Christians  adds  to  the 
prestige  of  Christianity  in  the  land.  The  people 
naturally  come  to  regard  it  as  the  State  religion. 
What  is  more  significant,  however,  is  the  fact  that, 
at  the  basis  of  modern  laws  in  that  land  and  of  the 
multiplying  institutions  of  the  country,  distinctively 
Christian  principles  are  universally  recognized. 
Should  the  government  of  India  resolve  to  be  abso- 
lutely neutral  in  all  religious  matters,  it  would  have 
to  renounce  those  laws  and  institutions  which  have 
furnished  it  with  all  its  success  in  the  land  and  which 
today  crown  its  efforts  with  largest  usefulness.  To 
the  government,  and  unconsciously  to  the  masses  of 
the  people,  Christian  thought  and  truth  and  method 
necessarily  characterize  most  of  the  laws,  institutions 
and  processes  of  India.  They  are  all  a  part  of  the 
work  of  Great  Britain  in  that  land  and  such  a  part  as 
she  could  not  dispense  with  if  she  would.  It  is  a 
part  of  her  unconscious  Christian  heritage. 

Thus  the  work  of  Great  Britain  in  India  has  been 
attended  with  a  large  degree  of  success;  it  has  lifted 
the  land  out  of  a  condition  of  semi-savagery  and 


rhe  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE  51 

placed  it  among  the  civilized  nations  of  the  world. 
It  has  cut  it  asunder  from  its  anchorage  to  the  past 
and  brought  it  almost  abreast  of  the  times.  There  is 
still  much  to  be  done  and  much  to  be  desired.  We 
shall  be  glad  to  see  the  day  when  radical  steps  in 
progress  shall  be  taken  voluntarily  by  the  people  and 
through  the  initiative  of  their  own  leaders,  rather 
than  that  they  should  wait  to  have  them  thrust  upon 
them,  as  in  the  past,  by  the  progressiveness  of  the 
foreigner  among  them. 

The  people,  on  the  whole,  appreciate  the  blessings 
of  British  supremacy  in  the  land.  If  they  are  not 
demonstratively  loyal  to  the  government,  they  cer- 
tainly do  rest  satisfied  in  the  progress  which  has  been 
achieved  for  them. 

The  well  known  political  leader  of  Bengal,  Babu 
Surendra  Nath  Banerji,  recently  expressed,  in  the  fol- 
lowing eloquent  words,  the  sentiment  of  the  most 
thoughtful  and  influential  natives  of  the  country. 

"Our  allegiance  to  the  British  rule,"  he  says,  *Ms 
based  upon  the  highest  considerations  of  practical 
expediency.  As  a  representative  of  the  educated 
community  of  India— and  I  am  entitled  to  speak  on 
their  behalf  and  in  their  name, — I  may  say  that  we 
regard  British  rule  in  India  as  a  dispensation  of  Divine 
Providence.  England  is  here  for  the  highest  and  the 
noblest  purposes  of  history.  She  is  here  to  rejuve- 
nate an  ancient  people,  to  infuse  into  them  the 
vigour,  the  virility  and  the  robustness  of  the  West, 
and  so  pay  off  the  long-standing  debt,  accumulating 
since  the  morning  of  the  world,  which  the  West 
owes  to  the  East.  We  are  anxious  for  the  perma- 
nence of  British  rule  in  India,  not  only  as  a  guarantee 


52  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

for  stability  and  order,  but  because  with  it  are  bound 
up  tlie  best  prospects  of  our  political  advancement. 
To  the  English  people  has  been  entrusted  in  the 
Councils  of  Providence  the  high  function  of  teaching 
the  nations  of  the  earth  the  great  lesson  of  constitu- 
tional liberty,  of  securing  the  ends  of  stable  govern- 
ment, largely  tempered-  by  popular  freedom.  This 
glorious  work  has  been  nobly  begun  in  India.  It  has 
been  resolutely  carried  on  by  a  succession  of  illustri- 
ous Anglo-Indian  statesmen  whose  names  are  en- 
shrined in  our  grateful  recollections.  Marvellous  as 
have  been  the  industrial  achievements  of  the  Victor- 
ian era  in  India,  they  sink  into  insignificance  when 
compared  with  the  great  moral  trophies  which  dis- 
tinguish that  epoch.  Roads  have  been  constructed ; 
rivers  have  been  spanned;  telegraph  and  railway 
lines  have  been  laid  down;  time  and  space  have  been 
annihilated;  Nature  and  the  appliances  of  Nature 
have  been  made  to  minister  to  the  wants  of  man. 
But  these  are  nothing  when  compared  to  the  bold, 
decisive,  statesmanlike  measures  which  have  been 
taken  in  hand  for  the  intellectual,  the  moral  and  the 
political  regeneration  of  my  countrymen.  Under 
English  influences  the  torpor  of  ages  has  been  dis- 
sipated; the  pulsations  of  a  new  life  have  been  com- 
municated to  the  people;  an  inspiriting  sense  of 
public  duty  has  been  evolved,  the  spirit  of  curiosity 
has  been  stirred  and  a  moral  revolution,  the  most 
momentous  in  our  annals,  culminating  in  the  trans- 
formation of  national  ideals  and  aspirations,  has  been 
brought  about." 

Great  Britain  has  not  been,  and  is  not  now,  with- 
out failings  in  her  work  in  India;  and  her  line  of 


rhe  LAND  AND  THE  PEOPLE  53 

progress  is  studded  with  many  errors.  But  she  has 
been  faithful  to  her  trust  and  has  carried  it  out  in  no 
selfish  way.  The  warm  and  deep  loyalty  of  India 
bears  testimony  to  this;  for  native  sentiment  every- 
where reveals  marked  appreciation. 


// 

THE  RELIGIONS  OF  INDIA 

INDIA  is  the  mother  of  religions.  No  other  land 
has  been  so  prolific  in  religious  thought  or  has 
founded  faiths  which  have  commanded  the  alle- 
giance of  so  large  a  portion  of  the  human  race. 
While  the  Aryans  of  the  West  have  been  content  to 
borrow  their  faith  from  the  Hebrews;  Indo- Aryans 
have  produced  the  most  wonderful  and  mighty 
ethnic  religion  (Brahmanism)  and  also  one  of  the 
three  great  missionary  religions  of  the  world  (Bud- 
dhism). A  third  of  the  human  race  today  cling  with 
devotion  to  these  two  products  of  the  fertility  of  the 
mind,  and  the  spirituality  of  the  heart,  of  India. 

India's  toleration  for  other  religions  has  been 
marked.  For  twelve  centuries  she  has  been  the 
asylum  of  Zoroastrianism.  Nearly  nine-tenths  of  the 
followers  of  that  ancient  cult  of  Persia  found  and  still 
enjoy  a  hospitable  home  in  India.  There  are  more  of 
the  narrow,  bigoted  followers  of  Mohammed  among 
these  tolerant  people  than  are  found  in  any  other 
land — even  in  the  wide  domains  of  the  Sultan. 
Christians  also  have  lived,  practically  unmolested,  in 
this  great  land  almost  from  Apostolic  days. 

Thus  not  a  few  of  the  great  Faiths  of  the  world 
are  at  present  represented,  and  are  struggling  either 
for  existence  or  dominance,  in  the  land  of  the 
Vedas. 

54 


the  RELIGIONS  OF  INDIA    55 

The  principal  faiths  of  the  land,  with  their  adher- 
ents, were  as  follows,  according  to  census  of  190 1  : 

Hindu 207,147,026 

Sikh 2,195,339 

Jain 1,334,148 

Buddhist 9,476,759^ 

Parsee 94,190 

Mohammedan 62,458,077 

Jewish 18,228 

Christian 2,923,241 

These  figures  include  Burma. 

Let  us  consider  these  faiths  briefly.  It  will  be  seen 
that  Christianity  has,  as  its  followers,  only  one  per 
cent,  of  the  whole  population  of  the  land. 

(a)  Judaism. 

The  Jewish  Community  in  India  numbers  only 
18,228 ;  these  are  found  mostly  in  Bombay  and 
Poonah.  Perhaps  the  most  interesting  colony  of 
them  is  that  on  the  west  coast  in  Cochin.  I  had  the 
pleasure  of  visiting  them  in  1897.  There  are  1,500  of 
them  divided  into  two  sections — the  White,  and  the 
Black  Jews.  There  is  a  marked  racial  difference  be- 
tween the  two.  The  Blacks  were  originally  the 
slaves  of  the  Whites  as  is  shown  by  their  historical 
documents.  It  is  not  known  when  the  Whites  came 
to  India.  Some  think  that  they  fled  there  during  the 
Jewish  exile.  More  likely  they  came  upon  the  dis- 
persion during  the  first  century  of  our  era.  The 
purity  of  their  blood  and  the  remarkable  fairness  of 
their  complexion   indicate  that  the  settlement   has 

^  Nearly  all  these  Buddhists  live  in  Burma  which  is  included  in 
these  statistics  because  it  is  now  politically  a  part  of  India. 


56  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

been  from  time  to  time  reenforced  from  northwest- 
ern countries.  They  are  an  exceedingly  conservative 
people;  and  in  their  two  synagogues,  they  conduct 
their  worship  perhaps  more  like  the  Jews  of  twenty 
centuries  ago  than  do  any  other  representatives  of 
that  race  today.  The  day-school  connected  with 
the  White  Synagogue  closely  resembles  the  little 
school  which  our  Lord  attended  at  Nazareth. 

(Jb)  Mohammedanism. 

About  one-fifth  of  the  whole  population  of  that 
land  is  connected  with  the  religion  of  the  great 
prophet  of  Arabia.  This  is  a  number  largely  in  ex- 
cess of  the  whole  Mohammedan  population  of 
Turkey.  It  is  very  suggestive  that  this  faith  finds 
larger  growth  under  the  peaceable  protection  of  the 
Indian,  than  under  the  semi-barbarism  of  the  Moslem, 
government. 

This  religion  was  carried  into  India  in  711  a.  d.  at 
the  point  of  the  sword;  and  its  establishment  and 
success  for  centuries  was  owing  to  the  same  method. 
This  community  is  not  evenly  distributed  all  over 
India;  for,  more  than  one-third  of  it  is  found  in 
Bengal  alone,  where  it  furnishes  the  majority  of  the 
population.  More  than  one-half  of  the  adherents  of 
this  faith  in  India  are  converts  from  Hinduism. 
These  were  gathered  in  former  centuries  when  the 
Mohammedan  power  was  dominant,  and  when  to  be 
a  member  of  any  other  faith  than  Islam  was  regarded 
as  a  disability.  The  Mohammedans  of  the  country 
are,  on  the  whole,  physically  more  sturdy  and 
vigorous  than  their  neighbours.  Government,  in  its 
treatment  of  the  people,  has  to  conciliate  and  regard 


rhe  RELIGIONS  OF  INDIA    57 

with  favour  this  class  more  than  the  Hindus  who  are 
four  times  their  number.  They  possess  a  great  deal 
of  religious  bigotry  which  is  intrenched  behind  their 
dense  ignorance.  There  is  a  no  more  ignorant  ele- 
ment than  this  in  the  population  of  India;  only  six 
per  cent,  of  the  men  are  able  to  read  and  hardly  any  of 
the  women;  and  they  seem,  even  today,  to  have  a 
positive  aversion  to  the  schoolhouse.  Mohammedan- 
ism had,  during  the  days  of  its  dominance, 
considerable  influence  in  the  land;  but  it  did  very 
little  to  improve  the  material,  moral  or  religious 
condition  of  the  people;  and  it  is  a  significant  fact 
that,  comparing  today  the  adherents  of  Islam  in 
India,  with  those  of  Hinduism,  the  latter  are  found 
not  inferior  in  hfe,  morals  and  aspirations  to  the 
followers  of  the  prophet. 

The  converts  gathered  from  Mohammedanism  by 
Christianity  are  few,  though  not  so  few  as  ordinarily 
represented.  In  North  India  encouraging  success 
has  been  achieved  by  missions  for  this  class.  But  in 
South  India,  where  their  numbers  are  fewer,  efforts  in 
their  behalf  have  not  been  so  well  organised  and 
have  produced  smaller  results.  It  is  a  hard  task  to 
reach  and  to  move  this  class,  owing  not  only  to  the 
important  truth  of  monotheism,  which  they  hold  with 
great  enthusiasm,  but  also  because  of  the  supreme 
ignorance  which  blinds  them  equally  to  the  weakness 
of  their  own,  and  to  the  excellence  of  the  Christian, 
faith. 

(c)  Parseeism. 

This  faith  has  had  adherents  in  India  for  eleven 
centuries.     Driven    out    by  Mohammedanism  from 


58  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

their  home  in  Persia,  the  Parsees  found  refuge  in 
India.  There  are  only  100,000  of  these  followers  of 
Zoroaster  in  the  world.  94,190  of  them  are  in  India; 
and  nearly  all  of  these  reside  in  Bombay  and  its 
vicinity.  Their  faith,  Zoroastrianism,  is  the  purest 
of  ethnic  religions.  It  has  preserved  its  ancient  in- 
tegrity and  high  tone  much  better  than  its  sister 
faith,  Brahmanism.  Among  the  members  of  this 
religion  are  found  men  possessed  of  great  enter- 
prise, much  wealth,  the  spirit  of  progress  and  of 
philanthropy  and  culture.  They  give  high  honour  and 
position  to  their  women,  and  in  all  matters  of 
civilization  are  considerably  in  advance  of  even  the 
best  class  of  Hindus. 

This  religion,  though  from  the  same  source  with 
Brahmanism,  has  fundamental  differences  of  doctrine 
from  that  faith.  None  is  more  marked  or  significant 
than  its  Dualism  as  contrasted  with  the  Pantheism  of 
its  sister  faith.  The  problem  of  the  origin  of  evil 
has  found  these  two  diverse  interpretations  and 
these  have  had  a  large  influence  in  shaping  the 
characters,  respectively,  of  these  two  great  ethnic 
religions. 

Besides  the  far-off  common  source  of  these  two 
religions,  indicated  by  the  earliest  names  and  char- 
acter of  their  deities,  there  is  hardly  any  bond  of 
fellowship  in  doctrine,  worship  or  observance  be- 
tween the  fire  worshipping  Parsee  and  the  Hindu 
idolater.  And  though  these  Parsees  have,  for  more 
than  a  millennium,  made  India  their  home,  they  have 
kept  themselves  apart  from  the  people  of  the  land 
and  are  still  as  truly  foreigners  in  the  land  of  their 
adoption  as  are  the  English  residents. 


rhe  RELIGIONS  OF  INDIA    59 

{d)  Buddhism. 

This  religion  is  a  child  of  India;  its  founder, 
Gautama,  was  the  product  of  that  land,  and,  next  to 
our  Lord  Himself,  is  the  greatest  among  the  founders 
of  religions.  Buddhism  arose  as  a  reaction,  twenty- 
five  centuries  ago,  against  the  excesses  of  Brahman- 
ism.  It  flourished  wonderfully  for  a  few  centuries, 
and  at  the  time  when  Christ  was  on  earth,  had 
gained  supremacy  over  the  old  faith  and  had  become 
the  State  religion  in  India.  Owing  to  the  Brahmanic 
revival,  in  the  eighth  century  of  our  era.  Buddhism 
was  in  its  turn,  driven  out  of  the  land,  and  has 
found  refuge  in  Ceylon  and  in  more  eastern  countries 
from  that  time  until  the  present.  Since  then  it  has 
been  almost  entirely  without  followers  in  India 
proper.  Of  the  British  India  possessions  Burma  is 
the  only  place  where  it  is  the  popular  faith  today. 

Still  it  is  not  without  much  influence  in  the  land  of 
its  birth.  For,  Brahmanism  overcame  its  rival  faith 
in  India  only  by  adopting  some  of  its  most  fundamen- 
tal contentions  and  teachings.  Indeed,  modern 
Hinduism  is  largely  a  blending  of  the  Brahmanism  of 
old  with  its  supplanter,  Buddhism.  The  abundant 
sacrifices  which  Brahmanism  ofl'ered  were  entirely 
abolished  in  deference  to  Buddhistic  sensibilities. 
The  doctrine  of  transmigration,  through  Buddhism, 
received  new  emphasis;  and  kindness  to  all  living 
creatures  was  extolled  to  a  supreme  virtue.  As  a 
climax  to  this  attitude  of  conciliation  Hinduism 
finally  adopted  the  Buddha  as  the  ninth  incarna- 
tion of  Vishnu.  Thus,  by  the  irony  of  history, 
Gautama,  the  Buddha,  found  a  place  in  the  pantheon 
of  the  religion  which  he  gave  his  life  to  overthrow; 


6o  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

and  today  many  of  the  leading  aspects  of  the  life 
and  teaching  of  the  Hindus  may  be  traced,  either  in 
source  or  in  emphasis,  to  his  religion. 

{e)  Jainism, 

This  religion  is  an  offshoot,  or  the  India  remnant, 
of  Buddhism.  It  perhaps  represents  that  element 
among  the  followers  of  the  Buddha  who  declined  to 
be  absorbed  into  the  revived  and  transformed  Brah- 
manic  faith.  Through  the  many  centuries  of  their 
existence  as  a  sect  they  have  spurned  every  approach 
of  the  Brahmans  and  have  largely  stood  for  Buddhis- 
tic teaching  and  observances.  They  have  differed 
little  from  Buddhists  in  their  beliefs;  for  they  deny 
the  authority  of  the  Hindu  Vedas,  disregard  sacri- 
fices, cultivate  a  high  morality,  believe  strongly  in 
transmigration  and  reverence  life  in  all  its  forms. 
And  yet,  strangely  enough,  many  of  the  priests  of 
their  temples  are  Brahmans  and  they  place  Hindu 
idols  close  to  their  shrines.  They  differ  from  the 
Buddhists  chiefly  in  their  objects  of  worship  and  in 
their  ritual.  They  have  a  mythology  of  their  own — 
a  mythology  of  saints  rather  than  of  gods.  These 
saints,  or  **Jaina,"  (the  ''victorious  ones"— those 
who  have  attained  perfection  through  self-victory 
and  discipline)  are  worshipped,  and  furnish  an  in- 
spiration to  all  the  devotees  of  that  faith. 

The  Jains,  like  the  Parsees,  are  found  mostly  in 
Bombay  and  are  a  wealthy  community,  usually  en- 
gaged in  banking  and  commerce.  They  are  noted 
for  their  charity,  and  their  philanthropy  is  largely 
directed  towards  helping  the  poor  among  them  and 
for  maintaining  hospitals  for  animals. 


•NOTAao  'HSiHaana  ,io  sonan  xsaaio 


'xo^Aao  'Hxoox  s.YHaana  ^o  auwax 


T:he  RELIGIONS  OF  INDIA    6 1 

(/)  Sikhism. 

This  religion,  if  we  may  so  denominate  it,  was 
founded  by  Nanak  Stiah  in  the  fifteenth  century. 
Nanak  Shah  was  apparently  an  admirer,  if  not  a  fol- 
lower, of  Kabir,  the  Hindu  reformer  who  established 
a  sect  which  was  essentially  a  compromise  between 
Hinduism  and  Mohammedanism.  This  is  the  chief 
characteristic  of  Sikhism.  It  eschewed  the  polythe- 
ism and  idolatry  of  Hinduism.  It  taught  the  unity 
of  the  Godhead,  abolished  caste,  and  enforced  a  high 
type  of  morality.  It  has,  however,  subsequently 
fallen  under  the  blighting  influence  of  surrounding 
Hinduism  and  has  lost  much  of  its  distinctive  excel- 
lence. So  that,  according  to  the  census  report  of 
1891,  ''the  distinction  between  Sikhs  and  the  rest 
of  the  Brahmanic  community  is  mainly  ritualistic. 
.  .  .  The  only  trustworthy  method  of  distin- 
guishing this  creed  was  to  ask  if  the  person  in  ques- 
tion repudiated  the  services  of  the  barber  and  the 
tobacconist;  for  the  precepts  most  strictly  enforced 
nowadays  (by  the  Sikhs)  are  that  the  hair  of  the  head 
and  face  must  never  be  cut,  and  that  smoking  is  a 
habit  to  be  avoided." 

However  manifestly  the  Sikh  religion  is  going  the 
common  way  of  all  the  new  faiths  and  religious 
revolts  of  India — the  way  of  reabsorption  into  Hindu- 
ism—it has  done  much  to  create  and  foster  a  strong 
national  feeling.  Sikhs  were  cruelly  persecuted  by 
the  then  ruling  Mohammedans.  But  the  overthrow 
of  the  Moghul  Empire  gave  the  Sikhs  territorial 
power  and  they  possessed  the  only  remaining  polit- 
ical organization  in  the  Punjab.  So  that,  at  the  advent 
of  the  British,  the  Sikhs  were  a  mighty  power  to  be 


62  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

dealt  with.  They  became  the  great  power  of  North 
India;  and  during  the  Indian  mutiny  their  loyalty  to 
the  British  Raj  was  its  salvation.  At  present  the 
Sikh  nation,  warlike  and  valiant  as  ever,  furnishes, 
perhaps,  the  most  stalwart  and  invincible  contingent 
for  the  Indian  Army. 

{g)  Hinduism. 

This  is  the  religion  of  three-fourths  of  all  the  in- 
habitants of  India  and  of  nine-tenths  of  all  those  who 
are  there  reached  by  missionaries. 

What  is  Hinduism  ?  It  is  a  mixture  of  Brahman- 
ism,  Buddhism  and  Devil-worship.  As  we  have  seen, 
the  supplanting  faith  of  Buddha  was  finally  absorbed, 
so  far  as  India  was  concerned,  into  the  old  faith. 
When,  later  on,  the  Brahmans  moved  towards  the 
southern  part  of  the  peninsula  they  entered  the  region 
occupied  by,  and  largely  given  over  to,  demonolatry. 
According  to  its  wont  Brahmanism,  as  modified  by 
Buddhism,  sought  not  to  overthrow  the  primitive 
cult  of  the  people,  but  to  absorb  it.  Thus,  in  South 
India  today,  more  than  three-fourths  of  the  people 
are  devil  worshippers.  And  yet,  with  their  demons, 
they  have  been  accepted  into  the  higher  faith  of  the 
Aryan;  and,  according  to  their  mood  and  preference, 
give  themselves  to  the  worship  of  Hindu  gods  or 
village  demons.  Worshipping  in  pure  Hindu  temples 
is  to  that  people  but  a  pastime,  a  mere  holiday  diver- 
sion; while  the  appeasing  of  the  demons  at  their 
village  shrines  and  under  old  trees  in  their  hamlets  is 
the  most  serious  concern  of  their  life.  And  yet  all 
of  them  are  regarded,  and  rightly  regarded,  as 
Hindus.     Indeed,  in  the  Hinduism  of  today,  espcr- 


rhe  RELIGIONS  OF  INDIA    63 

cially  as  found  in  South  India,  can  be  found  living 
amicably  together  and  without  any  apparent  sense  of 
incongruity  or  conflict  the  lowest  type  of  fetishism, 
an  ardent  devil-worship,  an  engrossing  ceremonial- 
ism, a  worship  of  the  higher  Brahmanical  deities,  a 
thoroughgoing  pantheism  and  a  pure  theism.  I 
have  witnessed  in  our  district,  side  by  side,  a  hideous 
fetish,  a  gross  idol  of  a  local  demon,  an  image  of 
Vishnu  who  is  the  best  of  Brahmanical  gods,  while 
in  an  adjacent  hamlet  lived  families  who  belonged  to 
none  of  these  cults  but  who  gave  themselves  to  a 
belief  in,  and  practice  of,  a  vague  theism  which  is 
farther  removed  from  the  fetishism  of  their  neigh- 
bours than  is  their  religion  from  the  highest  type  of 
Christian  teaching. 

Thus  Hinduism  may  be  viewed  as  an  immense 
cloth  of  many  colours;  which  colours  have  been 
patched  together  without  any  reference  to  harmony 
or  consistency.  In  other  words,  that  religion  is  a  big 
mass  of  mutually  inconsistent  and  undigested  beliefs, 
practices  and  ceremonies.  It  has  not  only  mutually 
antagonistic  philosophies,  it  has  also  three  different 
ways  of  salvation,  330,000,000  gods  and  as  many 
laws  and  customs  which,  though  binding  as  the 
laws  of  the  Medes  and  Persians,  are  nevertheless, 
absolutely  wanting  in  consistency  and  in  unity  of 
purpose  and  teaching.  In  the  words  of  Sir  Alfred 
Lyall, — "The  general  character  of  Indian  religion  is 
that  it  is  unlimited  and  comprehensive,  up  to  the 
point  of  confusion;  it  is  a  boundless  sea  of  divine 
beliefs  and  practices;  it  encourages  the  worship  of 
innumerable  gods  by  an  infinite  variety  of  rites;  it 
permits  every  doctrine  to  be  taught,  every  kind  of 


64  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

mystery  to  be  imagined,  any  sort  of  theory  to  be 
held  as  to  the  inner  nature  and  visible  operation  of  the 
divine  power." 

'  It  has  been  the  wont  of  Brahmanism  not  to  directly 
antagonize  and  overthrow  the  old  and  the  opposing 
cults,  but  rather  to  absorb  them.  Note  here  its 
fundamental  contrast  with  Christianity.  It  meets  its 
rival  with  a  smile  of  appreciation,  then  seeks  to 
fraternize  with  it,  after  which  it  approves  and  appro- 
priates and  finally  absorbs  it. 

In  the  Madura  District  of  South  India,  where  I  have 
lived,  the  Brahmans,  upon  their  first  arrival,  found  all 
the  people  given  to  the  worship  of  their  village 
demons.  They  said  to  them,  practically, — "  We  do 
not  wish  to  deprive  you  of  your  devil  shrines  and 
images  and  worship.  We  will  take  the  leading 
demons  which  you  worship  and  marry  them  to  our 
great  gods  and  then  give  to  them  a  place  in  our 
pantheon  and  a  part  in  our  worship.  Come  ye  also 
with  them  and  we  will  welcome  you  into  our  temples 
and  faith."  Thus  **Meenatchi,"  the  old  and  the  prin- 
cipal demoness  of  the  primitive  cult  of  that  region, 
was  married  to  the  great  god  Siva  and  became  the 
presiding  goddess  of  the  great  Hindu  temple  of 
Madura;  and  all  her  old  worshippers  followed  her 
into  the  new  faith  of  Hinduism.  So  all  those  people 
are  Hindus  today.  And  yet  they  have  not  abated 
one  jot  of  their  interest  in  and  practice  of  their 
demonolatry. 

That  which  may  be  regarded  as  the  more  strictly 
Brahmanical  development  and  manifestation  of  Hin- 
duism is  divided,  at  present,  into  pi^^^^greatcults. 
These    are  Saivism,    or  the  worship  of  Siva,  and 


riie  RELIGIONS  OF  INDIA    65 

Vaishnavism,  or  the  worship  of  Vishnu.  These  two 
cults,  while  not  mutually  antagonistic,  are  neverthe- 
less entirely  separate — their  devotees,  respectively, 
being  satisfied  with  their  own  god  and  his  incarna- 
tions and  manifestations. 

The  first  god  of  the  Hindu  triad  (Brahma,  Vishnu  i 
and  Siva) — has  practically  no  shrines  among  Hindus 
today.  His  worship  has  been  largely  transferred  to 
his  so-called  sons,  the  Brahmans;  and  Siva  has,  in  the 
main,  absorbed  all  his  functions  as  creator.  As  it  is 
only  Vishnu,  the  preserver,  and  Siva,  the  destroyer 
and  recreator  that  have  anything  to  do  with  men,  the 
Hindus  devote  themselves  to  these  two  only.  Siva 
is  the  ** great  god,"  the  austere  and  terrible  one  whom 
the  people  fear.  He  is  known  chiefly  through  his 
phallic  emblem,  the  linga,  which  emphasizes  his 
creative  activity.  Vishnu  is  the  benign  god  who  has 
resorted  to  many  incarnations  whereby  he  might  free 
the  world  of  demons  who  were  worrying  and  destroy- 
ing our  race.  Siva  has  many  manifestations;  Vishnu 
alone  has  "descents "  or  incarnations,  some  of  which 
were  in  brute,  and  some  in  human,  form. 

These  two  cults  obtain  universally  throughout 
India.  Vaishnavism  (the  worship  of  Vishnu)  has 
many  popular  sects  which  wield  extensive  influence 
throughout  the  country.  The  one  established  by 
Vallabha-Swami,  in  the  sixteenth  century,  is  a 
worship  of  Krishna  and  is  given  to  the  indulgence 
of  the  passions  and  is  characterised  by  gross  licen- 
tiousness. 

The  sect  founded  by  Chaitanva  in  the  fourteenth 
century  is  one  of  the  most  celebrated,  and  is  very 
popular   in   Bengal.     It  subordinates   everything  to 


66  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

faith  (bhakti)  even  making  this  more  important  than 
caste.  Contemplation,  rather  than  ritual,  was  Chai- 
tanya's  pathway  to  salvation  and  he  gave  supreme 
value  to  the  virtue  of  obedience  to  the  "guru " or  re- 
ligious guide. 

In  South  India  the  cult  of  the  religious  reformer, 
Ramanuja,  who  flourished  in  the  twelfth  century, 
has  extensive  popularity.  He  was  a  man  of  great 
thought,  and  his  special  type  of  Vedantic  philosophy 
is  much  in  vogue  today.  He  proclaimed  the  unity 
of  God  under  the  name  of  Vishnu.  He  received  con- 
verts from  every  caste.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that 
nearly  all,  in  the  long  list  of  religious  reformers  in 
India,  took  a  position  of  hostility  to  the  caste  system. 
But  it  is  also  significant  that  none  of  these  reform 
movements  has  persisted  through  the  centuries  in 
that  attitude,  but  has  fallen  into  line  with  orthodox 
Hinduism  in  absolute  submission  to  the  caste  demon. 

**.5M^l.'---WJQrship  has  also  attained  great  influence 
and  extensive  predominance  in  many  parts  of  India. 
This  is  the  worship  of  the  Sakti  or  the  female  half  of 
the  great  deities  of  the  land.  The  Saktar  preeminently 
worship  Kali,  the  goddess  of  blood,  and  the  other 
consorts  of  Siva.  It  is  a  worship  of  power  (*'  Sakti" 
means  energy  or  power),  and  usually  power  of  the 
maleficent  type.  It  is  perhaps  the  lowest  form  of 
Hinduism  and  easily  lends  itself  to  a  gratification  of 
the  lowest  passions  of  men.  This  iantric  cult  (the 
tantras  are  the  sacred  books  of  the  Saktar)  is  the 
only  one  in  modern  Hinduism  which  indulges  in 
bloody  sacrifices — Kali  and  her  sisters  being  satisfied 
by  blood  as  by  nothing  else.  This  attests  the  non- 
Aryan  origin  and  character  of  this  worship,  inasmuch 


The  RELIGIONS  OF  INDIA    67 

as  Brahmanism,  since  the  days  of  Buddha,  abjures  all 
bloody  sacrifice. 

Let  it  not  be  supposed,  however,  from  the  above 
remarks,  about  the  multiform  and  self-contradictory 
character  of  the  amorphous  thing  called  Hinduism, 
that  it  is  therefore  impossible  for  us  to  understand 
and  measure  its  nature  and  power.  For  Brahmanism, 
through  all  ages,  has  not  been  without  a  definite  tend- 
ency, an  underlying  philosophy  and  pervasive  funda- 
mental beliefs.  It  is  indeed  more  a  congeries  of 
faiths  than  a  simple  religion,  like  Christianity.  And 
yet,  amid  all  its  hosts  of  contradictions  and  ways  of 
salvation  and  sects  and  cults  there  have  sounded,  as 
a  diapason  through  all  the  centuries,  the  fundamental, 
teachings  of  Vedantism.  A  few  doctrines  such  as/ 
pmtHeism,  Transmigration,  ''karma,"  "bhakti"and 
final  absorption  into  the  Supreme  Soul  are  all  but 
universally  held  by  the  people  of  all  sects  and 
divisions,  however  much  at  variance  with  these 
their  peculiar  beliefs  may  seem  to  be. 

The  prominent  staple  of  Hindu  religious  thinking 
in  all  ages  has  doubtless  been  Vedantism— that  subtle 
form  of  pantheism  which  has  charmed  and  bewildered 
not  a  few  of  the  great  minds  of  the  Occident  also. 
The  paramount  influence  of  this  philosophy  upon  all 
religious  thought  and  life  in  India  is  unmistakable 
today,  as  it  has  been  through  the  centuries.  Of  this 
Max  Mailer  says,— 'Mf  the  people  of  India  can  be  said 
to  have  now  any  system  of  religion  at  all  ...  it 
is  to  be  found  in  the  Vedanta  philosophy,  the  leading 
tenets  of  which  are  known  to  some  extent  in  every 
village.  .  .  .  Nothing  will  extinguish  that  ancient 
spirit  of  Vedantism  which  is  breathed  by  every  Hindu 


68  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

from  his  earliest  youth,  and  pervades,  in  various  forms, 
even  the  prayers  of  the  idolater,  the  speculations  of 
the  philosopher,  and  the  proverbs  of  the  beggar." 

We  may  therefore,  without  hesitation,  so  far  as 
Hinduism  is  concerned  regard  as  philosophic  Hindu- 
ism those  basal  doctrines  and  their  corollaries  which, 
from  the  earliest  days,  have  been  the  stock  in  trade 
of  all  Indo-Aryan  thinkers  and  at  the  same  time  the 
source  and  solvent  of  all  the  mysteries  of  their  faith. 

By  a  study  of  these  one  may  easily  reach  the  heart 
of  Hindus  and  of  Hinduism  and  can  weigh  and  meas- 
ure the  forces  which  enter  into  their  religious  life  and 
thinking,  and  can  compare  them  with  the  teachings 
and  institutions  of  Christianity. 

This  study  will  bring  a  twofold  blessing  to  Chris- 
tians of  the  West,  especially  to  missionaries  who 
have  given  themselves  to  the  regeneration  of  India. 
It  will  give  them  a  larger  degree  of  respect  for  that 
great  people  of  the  East  and  a  new  appreciation  for 
Hindu  thought  and  religious  speculation.  We  of  the 
West  have  been  imbued  with  too  much  of  an  intel- 
lectual arrogance  and  a  spirit  of  contempt  for  ''the 
benighted  Hindu,"  Even  if  we  ever  learned,  we 
certainly  have  too  easily  forgotten,  that  many,  many 
centuries  ago — when  our  ancestors  were  grovelling 
in  the  lowest  depths  of  primitive  savagery — the 
rishis  of  India  were  engaged  in  perhaps  the  highest 
self-propelled  flights  of  religious  speculation  the 
world  has  ever  known  and  were  working  out  a 
philosophy,  or  more  correctly  a  system  of  ontology, 
which  is  today  the  wonder  and  admiration  of  West- 
ern savants. 

I  argue    for    a  study  of  those  teachings  which, 


Vhe  RELIGIONS  OF  INDIA    69 

though  hoary  with  age,  are  today  all-important  as 
the  foundation  upon  which  the  many-aisled  temple 
of  Hinduism  is  built  and  (if  I  may  change  the  figure) 
as  the  cement  which  binds  the  whole  structure 
together. 

A  few  years  ago  it  was  generally  thought  that 
Brahmanism  was  little  else  than  the  insane  ravings 
of  well-meaning,  but  unguided,  or,  worse  still,  mis- 
guided, denizens  of  darkness;  the  whole  literature 
was  considered  a  mass  of  intellectual  and  moral 
rubbish.  How  much  the  verdict  of  Western  scholars 
upon  this  subject  has  changed  during  the  last  quarter 
of  a  century  I  need  not  mention.  All  men  who  have 
investigated  the  subject  give  today  unstinted  praise 
to  the  heart  and  intellect  of  those  sages  who  pro- 
duced much  of  the  ancient  religious  literature  of 
India.  They  will  not  endorse  the  statement  of  the 
great  German  philosopher  who  exclaimed,  **  In  the 
whole  world  there  is  no  study  so  beneficial  and  so 
elevating  as  that  of  the  Upanishads.  It  has  been  the 
solace  of  my  life — it  will  be  the  solace  of  my  death." 
And  yet  many  claim  that  its  truths  are  numerous 
and  spiritually  helpful.  Hopkins  writes^: — **The 
sincerity,  the  fearless  search  of  the  Indie  Sages  for 
truth,  their  loftiness  of  thinking,  all  these  will  affect 
the  religious  student  of  every  clime  and  age,  though 
the  fancied  result  of  their  thinking  may  pass  without 
effect  over  a  modern  mind."  And  Barth  truly  re- 
marks ^: — "The  religion  of  India  has  not  only  given 
birth  to  Buddhism  and  produced,  to  its  own  credit, 
a  code  of  precepts  which  is  not  inferior  to  any  other; 

1  "  The  Religions  of  India,"  p.  562. 

2  "The  Religions  of  India,"  p.  288. 


70  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

but  in  the  poetry  which  they  have  inspired  there  is  at 
times  a  delicacy  and  bloom  of  moral  sentiment 
which  the  Western  world  has  never  seen  outside  of 
Christianity.  Nowhere  else,  perhaps,  do  we  meet 
with  an  equal  wealth  of  fine  sentences."  Of  their 
intellectual  acumen  Dr.  Matheson  says:  *Mt  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  the  mind  of  the  West,  with  all 
its  undoubted  impulses  towards  the  progress  of  hu- 
manity, has  never  exhibited  such  an  intense  amount 
of  intellectual  force  as  is  to  be  found  in  the  religious 
speculations  of  India.  .  .  .  These  have  been  the 
cradle  of  all  Western  speculations;  and  wheresoever 
the  European  mind  has  risen  into  heights  of  philoso- 
phy, it  has  done  so  because  the  Brahman  has  been 
the  pioneer.  There  is  no  intellectual  problem  in  the 
West  which  had  not  its  earliest  discussion  in  the 
East;  and  there  is  no  modern  solution  of  that  prob- 
lem which  will  not  be  found  anticipated  in  the  East." 
These  words  of  the  Scotch  divine  are  doubtless 
strong;  too  strong,  I  think.  And  yet  they  may  be 
serviceable,  if  they  warn  us  against  that  proneness  to 
depreciate  the  intellectual  value  and  serious  purpose 
of  the  religious  books  of  that  land.  It  is  worse  than 
useless  to  confidently  descant  upon  the  errors,  incon- 
sistencies, the  follies  and  absurdities  of  these  writings 
without  acknowledging  at  the  same  time  the  pro- 
found thought,  the  deep  spiritual  yearning  and  the 
sublime  poetic  beauty,  which  characterize  some 
portions. 

In  this  connection  the  question  of  the  origin  of 
Hinduism  is  important. 

It  was  formerly  laid  down  as  a  postulate  of  the 
Christian's  belief  that  Hinduism  is  of  the  devil;  and 


"the  RELIGIONS  OF  INDIA    71 

that,  coming  from  below,  it  must  be  shunned  as  a 
study  and   denounced  root  and  branch  as  a  thing 
purely  satanic.     This  theory  has  entirely  given  way 
to  a  more  rational  belief.     The  question  whether  the 
truths  of  Hinduism,  with  those  of  other  ethnic  re- 
ligions, have    filtered    down    from   some   primitive 
revelation  and  are  the  relics  of  a  vanishing  faith, 
divinely  communicated  to  some  of  the  earliest  mem- 
bers of  our  race;  or  whether  God  has  directly,  from 
time  to  time,  guided  the  thoughts  and  answered  the 
deep  yearnings  of  the  soul  of  the  Indo-Aryan,  is  one 
which  is  still  discussed.     But  modern  scholarship  is 
practically  of  one  voice  in  maintaining  that  God  hath 
not  left  Himself  without  witness  among  the  many 
nations  of  the  earth,— a  witness  that  has  indeed  been 
comparatively  feeble— a  revelation  that  is  dim  and 
starlike  as   compared    with  the  noonday  brightness 
of  the  Sun   of  Righteousness  in  the  Christian  re- 
ligion.    The  day  has  come  when  the  Christian  must 
accept  and  believe  that  God  has  been  dealing  directly 
with  this  people  through  the  many  centuries  of  their 
history,    leading    them    to    important  truths,    even 
though  their  evil  hearts  and  worse  lives  have  caused 
them,  in  many  cases,  to  ''cliange  the  truth  of  God 
into  a  lie  and  worship  and  serve  the  creature  more 
than  the  Creator."     Many  of  the  truths  which  are 
imbedded  in  the  religion  of  that  land  find  their  solu- 
tion in  no  other  hypothesis  than  this. 

This  study  of  Hinduism  will  also  lead  us  to  realize 
the  important  truth  of  the  many  points  of  contact  be- 
tween that  faith  and  our  own.  A  knowledge  of 
their  sympathies  cannot  be  of  less  importance  than 
that  of  their  antipathies.     And  this  knowledge  is  in- 


72  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

dispensable  to  the  Christian  worker  in  India  as  it 
gives  a  new  and  a  most  direct  way  of  approach  to 
the  Hindu  heart,  and  a  fresh  and  ail-potent  argument 
with  them  in  behalf  of  Christianity. 

This  process  also  best  illustrates  the  method  and 
Spirit  of  Christ.  Dr.  Robson  aptly  remarks  that 
**  while  no  religion  has  done  more  to  overthrow 
other  religions  than  Christianity,  no  religious  teacher 
has  said  less  against  other  religions  than  Christ.  We 
have  from  Him  only  one  short  saying  condemning 
the  Gentiles'  aim  in  life,  but  not  even  one  reflecting 
on  the  gods  they  believed  in,  or  the  worship  they 
paid  them.  Was  not  this  because  He  came  not  to 
destroy  but  to  fulfill  ?  " 

I  can  refer  to  only  a  few  of  these  common  points 
and  belief  in  the  two  faiths. 

{a)  Incarnation. 

These  are  the  only  two  faiths  which  have  exalted, 
to  primal  importance,  this  doctrine.  In  Christianity 
it  is  basal,  and  in  later  Brahmanism,  or  Hinduism,  it 
has  overshadowed  nearly  every  other  teaching.  In  a 
sense  the  all-pervasive  pantheism  of  Brahmanism 
made  a  certain  form  of  incarnation  a  necessity  from 
the  earliest  days.  The  ancient  Aryans  could  not  rest 
satisfied  with  the  Unknown  and  the  Absolute  of  their 
Vedantism;  so  they  speedily  began  to  erect  for  their 
evergrowing  pantheon  an  endless  procession  of 
emanations.  But  it  was,  probably,  the  phenomenal 
success  of  Gautama,  and  especially  the  posthumous 
influence  of  his  life  and  example,  that  opened  the 
eyes  of  the  Brahmans  and  suggested  to  them  the 
supreme  need  of  an  avatar  ("descent"),    for  the 


rhe  RELIGIONS  OF  INDIA    73 

popularizing  of  their  faith.  And  thus  originated  that 
vast  system  of  descents,  or  incarnations,  which  have 
multiplied  so  greatly  and  developed  so  grotesquely 
all  over  the  land.  The  common  ground  furnished  by 
this  doctrine  to  the  two  faiths  is  not  adequately  ap- 
preciated. This  truth  of  incarnation,  in  its  funda- 
mental doctrinal  bearing  upon  Hinduism,  and  in  the 
strengthening  of  its  hold,  even  until  the  present, 
upon  the  popular  imagination  and  affection,  should 
not  go  for  nought  in  the  mind  of  Christian  critics, 
because  of  the  content  of  the  multitudinous  descents, 
which  is  mostly  grotesque,  debasing  and  repulsive. 
They  forget  that  the  Christian  doctrine  of  incarnation 
furnishes,  perhaps,  the  best  leverage  with  which  the 
Christian  missionary  is  to  overturn  the  faith  of  that 
people,  simply  because  the  doctrine  itself  has  been 
so  popularized,  even  if  debased,  in  India  for  many 
centuries.  Christ  should  be  none  the  less,  yea  the 
more,  welcome  to  that  land  because  the  most  popu- 
lar god  of  the  Hindu  pantheon  (Krishna)  is  also  the 
leading  incarnation  of  Vishnu. 

(b)  yicarious  Atonement. 

In  Christianity  this  is  second  in  importance  only  to 
the  doctrine  of  incarnation.  In  Brahmanism  also  it 
has  maintained,  from  the  first,  a  position  of  cardinal 
importance.  In  pre-Buddhistic  days  this  found  ex- 
pression in  sacrifices  that  were  probably  more  nu- 
merous and  more  precious  than  those  offered  by  any 
other  people.  This  is  partly  shown  by  the  fact  that 
words  used  for  sacrifice  are  more  numerous  in  the 
Sanskrit  than  even  in  the  Hebrew  language.  It  is 
true  that  their  idea  of  sacrifice,  both  as  to  its  import 


74  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

and  object,  was  different  from  ours  or  from  that  of 
the  Israehtes;  and  indeed  their  own  ideas  also  varied 
at  different  times.  Under  the  influence  of  Buddhism, 
sacrifice,  as  such,  was  practically  abandoned  ;  but 
the  idea  of  atonement  for  sin,  which  was  underlying 
them,  they  practically  carried  over  into  the  doctrine 
of  transmigration.  For,  however  stiffly  they  contend 
that,  through  metempsychosis,  the  doctrine  of  karma 
is  realized  and  every  soul  atones  for  its  own  sin,  it 
nevertheless  remains  true  that  the  element  of  con- 
sciousness separates  the  person  who  sinned  from  him 
who  suffers;  and  one  becomes  the  involuntary  atoner 
and  the  other  the  atoned  for. 

{c)  Spirituality. 

It  may,  to  some,  seem  absurd  to  bring  the  two  faiths 
into  anything  but  the  relationship  of  contrast  in  this 
particular,  when  it  is  remembered  that  we  are  con- 
fronted daily  by  a  Hinduism  which  is  as  grossly 
formal,  materialistic  and  sensual  as  any  religion 
known  in  any  land.  But  it  is  unnecessary  to  remind 
us  of  the  fact  that  the  literature  of  the  faith  of  this 
people  is,  in  some  respects,  far  removed  from  the  low 
life  and  ritual  of  the  present  day  ;  and  in  no  greater 
respect  than  in  this  which  we  are  now  considering. 
All  students  recognize  in  many  writings,  vedic  and 
post-vedic,  profound  seriousness  and  a  sometimes 
strange  depth  of  spiritual  apprehension  coupled  with 
an  other-worldliness  which,  to  the  western  mind, 
seems  absurdly  impractical.  Indeed,  the  naturally 
mystical  bent  of  the  Hindu  mind  has  been  regarded, 
and,  doubtless,  rightly  regarded,  as  one  of  the  chief 
obstacles  to  a  true  and  easy  understanding  of  much 


T^he  RELIGIONS  OF  INDIA    75 

that  is  in  their  sacred  writings  by  the  too  practical 
Westerner.  We  should  not  be  blind  to  the  lofty 
height  of  spiritual  thought  which  we  occasionally, 
and  the  deep  spiritual  yearning  which  we  frequently, 
are  permitted  to  witness  in  their  books.  In  evidence 
of  this  we  need  only  to  refer  to  the  powerful  hold 
which  the  yoga  system  of  philosophy  and  life  has 
upon  them.  An  intense  meditativeness,  a  devotional 
ecstasy  and  an  insight  of  true  heavenly  wisdom  is 
the  ideal  of  life  to  which  the  Hindu  has  been  called 
from  time  very  remote. 

(d)  Eschatology. 

In  Hinduism,  as  in  Christianity,  man  is  directed  to 
look  to  a  judgment-seat  and  a  system  of  rewards  and 
punishments  in  the  world  to  come.  While  this 
doctrine  again,  in  its  development  and  detail,  differs 
essentially  from  that  of  the  Christian  faith,  it  is  well 
to  call  attention  to  it  as  a  point  of  contact.  It 
breathes  the  spirit  of  karma,  which,  in  its  retributive 
power,  has  been  compared  by  some  to  the  doctrine 
of  heredity,  and  by  others,  to  that  of  fate.  Karma 
demands  the  full  future  fruition  of  every  act  done  in 
the  body;  and  many  re-births,  with  intervals  of 
keener  suffering  and  bliss  in  numerous  hells  and 
heavens,  are  the  countless  steps  in  the  doleful  fugue 
of  emancipation — a  process  which  is  enough  to  ap- 
pall any  but  the  patient,  stolid  soul  of  a  Hindu.  And 
yet  this  weary  detail  of  a  very  long  and  sisyphean 
effort  to  shake  off  this  mortal  coil  and  to  enter  into 
rest  is  worthy  of  the  missionary's  attention,  as  it 
represents,  perhaps,  the  most  elaborate  system  of 
eschatology  outside  of  the  New  Testament.     It  is 


76  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

also  ethical  in  its  character,  and  in  its  funcJamental 
principles  has  chords  which  harmonize  with  those  of 
the  Christian  doctrine. 

(e)  The  Doctrine  of  Faith, 

This  doctrine  maintains  that,  by  devotion  to  a  per- 
sonal god,  salvation  is  achieved.  This  idea  separates 
this  doctrine  from,  and  apparently  antagonizes,  the 
prevailing  philosophy  of  the  land — Vedantism.  This 
cult  of  Bhakti is  connected  with  Krishnaolatry,  which 
is  the  worship  of  the  most  unworthy  and  licentious 
god  of  the  Hindu  pantheon. 

Of  Vaishnavism,  or  the  worship  of  Vishnu,  in 
which  the  bhakti,  or  faith,  doctrine  prevails.  Sir 
Monier  Williams  remarks: — "Notwithstanding  the 
gross  polytheistic  superstitions  and  hideous  idolatry 
to  which  it  gives  rise,  it  is  the  only  Hindu  system 
worthy  of  being  called  a  religion.  At  all  events  it 
must  be  admitted  that  it  has  more  common  ground 
with  Christianity  than  any  other  form  of  non-Chris- 
tian faiths."  The  basal  truth  of  bhakti— thsit  of  su- 
preme attachment  to,  or  faith  in,  a  personal  god — 
could  not  fail  of  rousing  within  the  devout  lofty  and 
stirring  emotion.  Bhaktar,  i.  e.,  those  who  have 
given  themselves  absolutely  to  this  doctrine  and  make 
it  the  motive  and  inspiration  of  their  lives,  are  oblivi- 
ous to  all  other  bonds,  abjuring  among  themselves 
even  caste  and  all  its  demands,  and  proclaiming  the 
true  oneness  of  the  brotherhood  of  the  faith  among 
all  the  devotees  of  the  same  god. 

Thus  we  have  today  a  large  and  vigorous  class  of 
Hindus  who  have  subordinated  every  doctrine  and 
practice  of  their  religion  to  that  of  faith,  or  bhakti. 


A  TYPICAL  BUDDHIST  PRIEST. 


rhe  RELIGIONS  OF  INDIA    77 

I  believe,  with  not  a  few  illustrious  scholars,  that  this 
doctrine  traces  its  origin  to  Christianity.  Like  every- 
thing else  which  Hinduism  had  absorbed,  it  has  been 
considerably  transmuted  in  the  process.  It  has  been 
necessarily  and  greatly  affected  and  degraded  by  the 
character  of  the  gods  who  have  been  its  objects.  It 
has  been  debased  by  contact  with  idolatry  and  error, 
with  superstition  and  sensuality.  And  yet  we  trace 
its  lineaments  to  its  lofty,  divine  origin,  and  hesitate 
not  to  say  that  it  furnishes  a  common  ground  of  a 
fundamental  truth  of  which  Christian  missionaries 
have  not  yet  sufficiently  availed  themselves  in  their 
work  for  this  people. 

Hindus  have  also  done  not  a  little  thinking  in  the 
elaboration  of  the  doctrine  of  salvation.  In  their  dis- 
cussion as  to  the  relative  potency  of  divine  grace  and 
human  agency  in  the  salvation  of  man  they  became 
divided  into  two  antagonistic  schools,  corresponding, 
very  closely,  to  the  Calvinistic  and  Arminian,  among 
Christians — the  Tengaliar  maintaining  the  "cat 
theory  "  and  the  Vadagaliar  the  "  monkey  theory"; 
so  called  because  one  party  holds  that,  just  as  the  cat 
saves  her  kitten  by  seizing  and  carrying  it  away 
bodily,  so  God  seizes  and  saves  man  without  his  own 
effort.  This,  is  the  doctrine  of  absolute  grace.  The 
other  party  ihsists  that  the  relation  of  the  young 
monkey  to  its  mother,  whereby  its  rescue  from 
trouble  depends  upon  its  own  grasp,  best  represents 
the  process  of  salvation  in  which  man's  cooperation 
is  necessary. 

They  have  also  developed  the  doctrine  of  growth 
in  grace  sometimes  in  a  very  instructive  way.  The 
spiritual  development  from  saloka  (in  the  same  world 


78  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

with  God)  to  samtpa  (in  the  divine  presence)  thence 
to  sarupa  (in  the  divine  image)  and  finally  to 
sayujya  (complete  identity  with  the  divine  Being) 
bears,  in  some  respects,  a  striking  resemblance  to  the 
teaching  of  St.  Paul,  where  he  writes  that  Jesus  was 
*'  made  unto  us  wisdom,  righteousness,  sanctification 
and  redemption  "  (i  Cor.  i :  30). 

In  like  manner  they  teach  that,  for  the  attainment 
of  beatitude,  it  is  necessary  to  pass  through  five 
stages — (i)  that  of  santi,  quiet  repose  or  calm  and 
contemplative  piety;  (2)  that  of  dasya,  the  slave 
state — the  surrender  of  the  whole  will  to  God;  (3) 
that  of  sahhya,  or  friendship;  (4)  that  of  vdtsalya,  or 
filial  affection;  and  (5)  that  of  madhurya,  or  su- 
preme, all-absorbing  love. 

I  must  refer  briefly  to  only  one  other  illustration 
of  the  probable  influence  of  our  religion  upon  the 
faith  of  India,  and  that  is  in  its  teaching  on  escha- 
tology.  The  illustration  is  drawn  from  the  tenth 
incarnation,  Kalki  avatar,  oi  Vishnu.  This  incarna- 
tion is  to  take  place  hereafter,  when  Vishnu  will 
come,  at  the  close  of  the  present  Kaliyuga,  or  iron 
age,  and  put  an  end  to  these  growing  evil  times,  des- 
troying with  them  all  the  wicked  and  ushering  in 
the  new  era  of  righteousness  {Satya  yuga)  upon  the 
earth.  For  this  great  work  of  the  restoration  and  the 
renovation  of  all  creation,  he  is  to  come  seated  upon 
a  white  horse  with  a  drawn  sword,  blazing  like  a 
comet.  Hindus  at  present  look  forward  to  this  new 
incarnation  as  their  future  deliverer,  when  the  sor- 
rows and  the  depravity  of  this  present,  shall  be  swal- 
lowed up  in  the  glories  and  joys  of  the  future,  age. 
The  striking  thing  about  this  teaching  is  not  the  hope 


rhe  RELIGIONS  OF  INDIA    79 

which  it  inculcates  for  the  future;  for  that  is  practi- 
cally a  part  of  the  Hindu  conception  of  the  succession 
of  the  ages  of  their  time  system.  According  to  this 
the  present  era  must  yield  to  the  coming  good  yuga, 
which  must,  in  its  turn,  give  way  to  the  ages  of 
lesser  good  and  of  evil,  which  again  will  go  and 
come  in  their  ever-changing  cycle.  What  seems  re- 
markable is  the  form  in  which  this  idea  is  here 
clothed.  The  coming  of  the  Deliverer  upon  a  Kalki 
— a  white  horse — with  his  great  message  of  uni- 
versal destruction  and  deliverance,  brings  directly  to 
our  memory  the  Bible  prophecy  of  Rev.  6:2;  19: 
11-16,  and  also  brings  us  into  touch  with  the  belief 
of  many  Christians  today  as  to  the  appearance  and 
the  work  of  the  Son  of  Man  at  the  great  day  of  His 
Second  Coming. 

The  question  arises  as  to  how  this  avatar  origi-  j 
nated.     It  evidently  seems  to  be  an  afterthought  and  I 
of  no  ancient  date  among  the  series  of  Vishnu's ; 
descents.     And    following    the    ninth,    or  Buddha,  < 
avatar,  which  was  clearly  intended  as  a  bait  to  Bud- 
dhists, and  as  a  frank  and  full  compromise  with  that 
hitherto  supplanting  and  hostile  faith,  it  seems  natural 
to  suppose  that  this  tenth  also  came  in  the  same  way 
and  with  the  same  spirit  as  a  palm  leaf  to  another  re-  , 
ligion,  even  our  own,  whose  prophetic  words  about  ' 
the  second  coming  of  Christ  could  be  so  easily  appro- 
priated and  so  harmlessly  adopted  into  the  Hindu  sys- 
tem.   It  thus  introduced  into  their  faith  an  element  of 
future  glory  and  triumph  which  the  religion  had  not 
formerly  possessed.     Indeed  this  very  element  of  ag- 
gression  and  conquest  is  one  of  the  signs  of  its 
Western  origin  and  Christian  source. 


/// 

HINDUISM    AND    CHRISTIANITY    CON- 
TRASTED 

IN  the  previous  chapter  I  have  endeavoured  to 
show  and  emphasize  the  teachings  common  to 
Christianity  and  Hinduism. 

But  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  if  their  conso- 
nances are  neither  few  nor  unimportant  their  dis- 
sonances are  far  more  numerous  and  fundamental. 
They  meet  us  at  almost  every  point  of  our  investiga- 
tion and  impress  us  with  a  sense  of  a  vast  contrast. 

We  will  now  give  ourselves  to  a  brief  study  of 
these  divergences. 

The  two  faiths  differ  essentially. 

I.  In  their  Initial  Conceptions. — Their  starting 
points  are  almost  antipodal.  This  will  seem  evident 
when  we  study  their  views : 

(a)  In  reference  to  religion  itself.  Christianity  is 
briefly  and  beautifully  explained  by  its  Founder 
(Luke  15)  as  a  divine  method  of  seeking  and  saving 
the  lost.  It  is  the  expression  of  the  Father's  love 
yearning  for  the  return,  and  seeking  the  complete 
salvation,  of  the  son.  It  is  primarily  and  pervasively 
a  "Thus  saith  the  Lord" — a  revelation  from  God 
manward.  Hinduism  on  the  other  hand  has  been 
the  embodiment  of  man's  aspirations  after  Xjod. 
Wonderfully  pathetic,  beautiful  and  elevating  thes€ 
aspirations  have  been  at  times;  and  doubtless  guided 


cHRisriANirr  contrasted  8i 

at  points  by  Him  whom  they  so  ardently  sought. 
They  perhaps  represent  the  highest  reach  of  the  soul 
in  its  self-propelled  flight  towards  its  Maker.  It  is 
true  that  orthodox  Hindus  variously  describe  the 
Vedas  as  eternal,  as  a  direct  emanation  from  Brahma 
and  as  a  divine  entity  in  themselves.  They  consti- 
tute the  **Sruti" — **the  directly  heard"  message  of 
God  to  man.  But  the  authors  of  the  Upanishads, 
which  are  a  part  of  Sruti,  absolve  man  from  the 
necessity  of  accepting  the  four  Vedas  and  propound 
a  way  of  salvation  entirely  separate  from,  and  inde- 
pendent of,  vedic  prayers  and  ritual.  The  direct  in- 
fluence of  the  Vedas  upon  religious  life  and  ritual 
in  India  today  is  practically  nil ;  while  that  of  the 
Upanishads,  which  are  the  fons  et  origo  of  the  all- 
potent  philosophy,  is  felt  in  every  Hindu  life,  how- 
ever humble. 

This  aspect  of  the  two  faiths  is  not  unexpected 
when  we  remember : 

{b)  Their  very  dissimilar  conceptions  of  God. 
The  monotheism  of  the  one  and  the  pantheisrn  of  the 
other  are  cleai^and  uncompromising.  They  have 
stood  for  many  centuries  as  representatives,  to  the 
world,  of  these  very  dissimilar  beliefs.  Christianity 
inherited  from  Judaism  its  passion  for  monotheism, 
and  brings  the  "God  of  Israel"  very  near  to  our  race 
as  the  infinitely  loving  Father.  It  has  not  only  em- 
phasized His  personality  but  reveals,  with  incompar- 
able power  and  tenderness.  His  supreme  interest  in 
our  race  and  His  loving  purpose  concerning  it. 

On  the  other  hand  Hinduism  derived  its  highest 
wisdom  and  deepest  convictions  concerning  the 
Divine  Being  from  the  ancient  rishis  through  the 


82  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

Upanishads.  There  they  accepted,  once  for  all,  the 
doctrine  of  the  Brahm  (neuter) — the  one  passionless, 
immovable,  unsearchable,  ineffable  Being  who,  with- 
out a  second,  stands  as  the  source  and  embodiment 
of  all  real  being. 

Barth  truly  remarks  that  "  this  is  the  most  impos- 
ing and  subtle  of  the  systems  of  ontology  yet 
known  in  the  history  of  philosophy."  This  inscruta- 
ble Being  is  the  only  real  existence,  all  else  being  il- 
lusion projected  by  ignorance.  This  doctrine  of 
identity  or  nonduality  {advaitha)  lies  at  the  founda- 
tion of  all  their  religious  thinking.  This  Being  which 
is  devoid  of  qualities  (nirguna),  because  incompre- 
hensible to  man,  can  be  of  no  comfort  to  him.  In 
this  respect  the  Hindu  is  an  agnostic  of  a  profound 
type. 

For  this  mystical  philosophy  one  word  of  praise  is 
eminently  due.  It  is  not  to  be  confounded  with  that 
species  of  Western  pantheism  which  is  rank  material- 
ism— making  God  and  the  material  universe  con- 
vertible terms.  Sir  William  Jones  emphasized  this 
difference — the  difference  between  a  system  which, 
in  all  that  it  sees,  sees  God  alone,  and  that  which 
acknowledges  no  God  beyond  what  it  sees.  One  is 
the  bulwark  of  materialism  ;  the  other  its  most  un- 
compromising enemy.  Whatever  the  defects  of  this 
philosophy  of  the  Upanishads  it  must  be  confessed 
to  be  deeply  spiritual. 

And  yet  in  this  very  effort  to  conserve  the  spiritual 
and  transcendental  character  of  Brahm  the  Aryan 
sage  has  covered  Him  with  the  dark  robe  of  mysti- 
cism and  pushed  Him  into  a  far  off  realm  beyond 
human  ken. 


CHRISTIANirr  CONTRASTED    83 

So  that  the  only  intimations  which  man  has  of 
Him  are  confessedly  false  projections  of  ignorance. 
For  all  practical  purposes  this  hypothetical  deity — for 
the  very  existence  of  Brahm  is  only  assumed  as  a 
working  hypothesis  by  the  theosophist — is  a  nonen- 
tity to  the  worshipper.  How  can  a  being  lend  itself  to 
a  devout  soul  in  worship  when  it  is  rigidly  devoid  of 
every  quality  that  can  inspire  or  attract  the  soul  ? 
This  very  fact  has  led  the  ordinary  Hindu  to  seek 
and  develop  something  else  as  an  object  of  his  devo- 
tion. Hence  the  polytheism  of  Brahmanism.  Let  it 
not  be  supposed  that  there  is  any  antagonism  be- 
tween their  pantheism  and  their  polytheism.  One  is 
the  natural  offspring  of  the  other.  The  numberless 
gods  which  today  are  supposed  to  preside  over  the 
destiny  of  the  people,  are  but  emanations,  the  so- 
called  *'play"  of  Brahm.  Properly  speaking  they 
are  neither  supreme  nor  possessed  of  truly  divine  at- 
tributes. Even  the  Hindu  Triad — Brahma  (masculine 
gender),  Vishnu  and  Siva — are  but  manifestations  of 
the  delight  of  the  eternal  Soul  to  invest  itself  with 
qualities  (guna).  These  three  gods  are  no  more  real 
existences  than  are  the  myriad  other  children  of  illu- 
sion (mayo)  and  ignorance  (avidya)  which  constitute 
the  universe.  And  as  they  had  their  existence,  so 
will  they  find  their  dissolution,  in  the  fiat  of  the 
Supreme  Soul.  India  finds  polytheism  no  more  sat- 
isfying than  it  does  pantheism.  There  is  no  more 
assurance  of  comfort  in  worshipping  330,000,000 
gods,  whose  multitude  not  only  bewilders  but  also 
carries  in  itself  refutation  to  the  claim  of  any  one  to 
be  supreme,  than  there  is  in  the  yearning  after  an 
absolute,  ineffable  Being  which  cruelly  evades  human 


84  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

thought  and  definition.  It  is  no  wonder  therefore 
that  the  growth  of  the  Hindu  pantheon  is  constant, 
and  both  follows,  and  bears  testimony  to,  the  craving 
of  the  human  soul  for  a  God  who  can  satisfy  its 
wants  and  realize  its  deepest  longings. 

{c)  Their  theories  of  the  universe  are  also  diverg- 
ent. According  to  the  Bible  the  outer  world  is  the 
creation,  by  God,  out  of  nothing.  To  the  Brahman 
of  all  times  the  idea  of  pure  creation  has  seemed 
absurd.  Ex  nihilo  nihil  fit  is  an  axiom  of  all  their 
philosophies.  Whether  it  be  the  Vedantin  who  tells 
us  that  the  material  universe  is  the  result  of  Brahm 
invested  with  illusion,  or  the  Sankya  philosopher 
who  attributes  it  to  prakriti— the  power  of  nature; 
or  the  Veisashika  sage  who  traces  it  to  eternal  atoms; 
they  all  practically  posit  that  it  is  eternal. 

Of  course  the  Christian  doctrine  of  creation  from 
nothing  does  not,  as  the  Hindu  too  often  assumes, 
maintain  that  the  universe  is  a  result  without  a  cause; 
for  it  teaches  that  God  Himself,  by  the  exercise  of 
His  sovereign  will  and  omnipotence,  is  an  all-ade- 
quate cause  to  all  created  things. 

If  the  Vedantin  claims  that  creation  is  impossible, 
how  can  he  at  the  same  time  believe  that  ideas  have 
from  time  to  time  sprung  up  in  the  mind  of  Brahm, 
which  ideas  themselves  have  put  on  illusion  and  ap- 
pear to  human  ignorance  as  the  universe  ?  It  is,  to 
say  the  least,  no  easier  for  him,  with  his  conception 
of  Brahm,  to  account  for  the  origin  of  such  ideas 
than  it  is  for  the  Christian  to  trace  the  source  of  the 
material  universe  to  an  all-wise  and  omnipotent  God. 
Nor  does  the  Sankya  philosopher,  by  practically  de- 
nying God  and  positing  the  eternal  existence  of  souls 


CHRIsriANITT  CONTRASTED    85 

and  prakriti,  remove  half  the  difificulties  that  he 
creates. 

{d)  Again,  the  teachings  of  the  two  faiths  con- 
cerning man  are  no  less  divergent.  In  the  Bible  man 
is  represented  as  a  son  of  God.  He  is  fallen  indeed, 
but  with  a  trace,  even  in  his  degradation,  of  his 
Father's  lineaments.  We  follow  him  in  his  willful 
rebellion  against  his  Father;  he  plunges  into  the  low- 
est depths  of  sin.  But  we  still  recognise  in  him  the 
promise  of  infinite  and  eternal  possibilities  of  spiritual 
expansion  and  happiness.  Indeed  we  find  at  work  a 
divinely  benevolent  scheme  through  which  he  is  to 
be  ultimately  exalted  to  heavenly  places  in  Christ 
Jesus  and  made  the  heir  of  infinite  bliss. 

On  the  other  hand,  Hindu  Shastras  represent  man 
as  mere  illusion— the  poor  plaything  of  the  absolute 
One.  For  man  to  assume  and  to  declare  his  own 
real  existence  is,  they  say,  but  the  raving  of  his  ig- 
norance (avtdya).  To  the  practical  Western  mind  it 
seems  almost  impossible  that  a  philosopher  should  be 
so  lost  in  his  philosophy  as  to  aver  that  he,  the 
thinker  and  father  of  his  philosophy,  has  no  real  ex- 
istence— is  only  illusion,  concerning  which  real  ex- 
istence can  only  be  assumed  for  practical  purposes. 
What  must  be  said  of  the  philosophy  begotten  by 
such  an  illusive  being  ?  Shall  it  not  also  be  doomed 
to  vanish  with  him  into  the  nothingness  whence  he 
came  and  which  he  now  really  is,  if  he  only  knew 
it.^  Sir  Monier  Williams  aptly  remarks, — "Com- 
mon sense  tells  an  Englishman  that  he  really  exists 
himself  and  that  everything  he  sees  around  him 
really  exists  also.  He  cannot  abandon  these  two 
primary  convictions.     Not  so  the  Hindu  Vedantist. 


86  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

Dualism  is  his  bugbear,  and  common  sense,  when  it 
maintains  any  kind  of  real  duality,  either  the  separate 
independent  existence  of  a  man's  own  spirit  and  of 
God's  spirit,  or  of  spirit  and  matter,  is  guilty  of  gross 
deception." 

Another  conception  regards  the  human  soul 
{jivatma)  as  a  part  of  the  Supreme  Soul.  This 
theory  adds  small  comfort  or  dignity  to  it  when  we 
remember  that  this  whole  of  which  it  is  declared  a 
part  is  an  intangible,  unattractive  Being — devoid  of 
all  qualities  (nirguna).  If  the  soul  existed  from 
eternity  as  a  part  of  the  divine  Soul  and  will  ulti- 
mately resume  that  interrupted  existence,  what  value, 
ethical  or  otherwise,  can  be  attached  to  that  bondage 
of  manhood  which  was  thrust  upon  the  soul  (or  was 
it  voluntarily  assumed  ?)?  This  part  of  deity  called 
individual  soul  certainly  cannot  be  improved  by  its 
human  conditions;  and  the  question  is  not — "How 
soon  can  I  pass  through  this  slough  of  despond," 
but,  *'why  was  I  thrust  into  it  at  all?  Was  it  a 
mere  sacred  whim  {tiruvileiadal)  of  Brahm  ?" 

Moreover  this  view  of  human  ''self,"  or  soul,  car- 
ries one  out  too  far  into  the  sea  of  transcendental 
metaphysics  to  be  of  any  practical  use,  religiously. 
We  know  something  of  man— this  strange  compound 
of  soul  and  body — and  we  are  deeply  interested  in 
his  history  and  destiny;  the  more  deeply  because  we 
are  included  in  this  category. 

But  who  knows  of  the  eternal  soul — ^that  part  of 
the  absolute — separate  from  human  conditions  and 
apart  from  all  experiences  of  men  ?  Is  it  not  simply 
the  dream  of  the  philosopher,  a  convenient  as- 
sumption   to    satisfy    the   needs   of  an  impracticaJ 


CHRIsriANITT  CONTRASTED   87 

ontology  ?  To  magnify  the  soul  apart  from  human 
life,  and  to  interpret  human  life  as  the  self's  lowest 
degradation  and  something  which  is  to  be  shaken  off 
as  quickly  as  possible,  can  hardly  be  sound  philoso- 
phy, and  is  certainly  bad  theology.  It  simply  re- 
duces this  life  into  an  irremedial  evil,  with  no  moral 
significance  or  spiritual  value. 
This  leads  us  to  the  second  point  of  contrast: — 

2.    Their  Ultimate  Aim  or  Goal. 

What  do  these  two  religions  promise  to  do  for 
those  who  embrace  them  ?  The  work  which  Christi- 
anity proposes  to  itself  is  difficult  and  glorious.  It 
takes  fallen,  sin-sodden,  man  and  leads  him  out  into 
a  new  life  of  holiness;  it  opens  out  to  him  a  long  and 
broad  vista  of  life  with  an  ever-enlarging,  blissful, 
activity.  Christ  said  that  He  came  into  the  world 
that  men  might  have  life  and  have  it  abundantly. 
He  came  not  only  to  save  the  lost  but  also  to  develop 
all  the  grand  possibilities  of  the  soul  to  their  utmost, 
and  to  launch  the  human  bark  upon  a  voyage  of  ever- 
lasting life,  which  means  unceasing  growth  in  all  its 
noblest  qualities,  activities  and  enjoyments. 

Hindu  philosophy  and  faith,  on  the  other  hand, 
unite  in  commanding  that  human  endowments  be 
starved,  qualities  suppressed,  activity  of  all  kinds 
stayed,  ambition  and  every  other  desire,  even  the 
noblest  and  purest,  quenched.  All  the  essential  ele- 
ments of  life  itself  are  to  be  mortified  that  the  soul 
may,  unhampered  by  its  own  entanglement,  reach 
that  consummation  which  is  supposed  to  be  final. 
And  what  is  it  ?  Who  can  tell  ?  The  Aryan  phi- 
losopher himself  stands  mute  in  its   presence.     All 


88  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

that  we  can  predicate  of  it  is  not  life  and  happiness, 
according  to  any  standard  of  human  experience 
known  or  imagined.  The  idea  that  the  individ- 
ual soul  will  finally  sink  into  and  blend  with  the 
Absolute  Being  as  a  drop  of  water  returns  to  and 
mingles  with  its  mother  ocean  may  seem  plausible 
to  the  philosopher;  but  of  such  an  hypothetical 
existence  we  know  absolutely  nothing  and  can 
expect  nothing  that  would  inspire  hope  and  kindle 
ambition. 

In  Hinduism  there  are  heavens  many  and  not  a  few 
hells.  But  unlike  the  places  of  reward  and  punish- 
ment connected  with  Christianity,  they  represent 
nothing  final.  They  are  more  like  the  purgatory  of 
the  Catholics,  and  represent  only  steps  in  the  progress 
of  the  soul  towards  emancipation. 

Concerning  the  general  view  of  human  life,  its  im- 
port and  outcome,  the  two  faiths  are  antipodal. 
Christianity  is  brightly  optimistic.  The  future  of 
every  Christian  is  to  be  as  the  sun  shining  more  and 
more  until  the  perfect  day.  Unceasing  progress  and 
eternal  expansion  are  held  out  before  him.  His  is  an 
heritage  that  will  abide  and  will  resound  in  an  ever 
increasing  anthem  of  praise  throughout  time  and 
eternity.  Nothing  can  occur  hereafter  to  rob  him  of 
that  crown  of  glory  which  is  the  gift  of  God  and 
which  is  to  result  in  likeness  to  Him. 

Hinduism,  on  the  other  hand,  is  essentially  pes- 
simistic. It  teaches  that  human  life  is  totally  and 
irremediably  evil.  Every  power  of  the  soul  must  be 
exercised  in  the  endeavour  to  shake  off  this  terrible 
burden  of  separate  human  existence  and  escape  all 
the  conditions  of  this  life.    That  is  the  only  relief 


CHRIsriANirr  CONTRASTED    89 

possible.  To  the  Hindu  the  question  so  often  dis- 
cussed in  Christian  lands— "Is  life  worth  living?"— 
has  no  interest,  since  it  has  but  one  answer  possible. 
And  even  if  the  Indian  sage  forgets  his  present  con- 
ditions and  pessimism  long  enough  to  gaze  down 
the  long  and  dismal  vista  of  numberless  births  to  the 
final  consummation  {Sayujya) — the  final  union  with 
God — he  finds  in  that  nothing  which  the  Christian 
does  not  discover  in  tenfold  richness  and  beauty  in 
the  Bible.  To  be  partaker  of  the  Divine  Nature  is  a 
blessed  reality  to  the  Christian  without  his  forfeiting, 
in  the  least,  the  dignity  of  self-identity  and  the  glory 
of  separate  personal  consciousness.  To  have  the 
"life  hid  with  Christ  in  God";  to  be  able  trium- 
phantly to  exclaim— "I  live;  yet  not  I,  but  Christ 
liveth  in  me";  to  experience  the  blessedness  and 
power  of  abiding  in  Christ  and  to  realize  the  answer 
to  Christ's  own  prayer  to  the  Father— "  that  they  also 
may  be  in  us  "—all  this  is  the  joy  and  hope  of  the  Chris- 
tian in  a  manner  and  to  a  degree  utterly  impossible 
to  the  Hindu  whose  union  with  the  supreme  spirit  is 
the  loss  and  end  of  self,  including  all  those  faculties 
which  are  capable  of  enjoyment. 

Looking  from  another  standpoint,  we  perceive  that 
the  aim  of  the  religion  of  Christ  is  the  banishing  of 
sin  from  the  life  and  the  establishing  of  character. 
Sin  is  the  dark  background  of  Christianity.  It  ex- 
plains its  origin  and  reveals  its  universality.  Its 
whole  concern  is  with  the  emancipation  of  man  from 
the  presence  and  power  of  sin.  To  the  Vedantin, 
on  the  other  hand,  sin,  in  the  Christian  sense  of  it,  is 
an  impossibility.  Where  God  is  all  and  all  is  God 
there  can  be  no  separate  will  to  antagonize  the  divine 


90  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

will.  Monism  necessarily,  in  the  last  analysis, 
carries  every  act  and  motive  back  to  the  supreme 
Will  and  establishes  an  all-inclusive  necessitarianism 
which  is  fatal  to  human  freedom;  and  it  therefore 
excludes  sin  as  an  act  of  rebellion  against  God. 
Much  is  made  of  sin,  so  called,  in  the  Hindu  system, 
as  we  shall  presently  see;  but  nowhere  is  more  care 
needed  than  here  that  we  may  distinguish  between 
ideas  conveyed  by  this  word  in  these  two  faiths.  In 
Christianity  the  ethical  character  of  sin  is  emphasized. 
It  is  described  as  a  thing  of  moral  obliquity  and 
spiritual  darkness.  According  to  the  Upanishads  the 
only  defect  of  man  is  an  intellectual  one.  He  is  in 
bondage  to  ignorance.  Plato  made  ignorance  the 
chief  source  of  moral  evil  and  proposed  philosophy 
as  a  remedy  for  the  malady.  The  Vedantin  differs 
from  the  Greek  philosopher  only  in  his  more  absolute 
condemnation  of  (avidya)  ignorance  as  the  mother  of 
all  human  ills.  Remove  this— let  a  man  attain  unto  a 
true  knowledge  of  self,  of  the  fact  that  he  has  no 
real  separate  existence  and  is  one  with  the  Supreme 
Soul— and  he  becomes  thereby  qualified  for  his 
emancipation  and  ends  his  long  cycle  of  births. 
Moreover,  in  the  polytheism  of  the  Puranas  and  in 
the  laws  and  customs  of  Manu  sin  generally  means 
only  ceremonial  defilement  and  the  violation  of 
customs  and  usages. 

Hinduism,  therefore,  has  never  addressed  itself  to 
the  task  of  helping  man  as  a  sinner— of  regener- 
ating his  heart,  of  establishing  within  him  that 
beautiful  thing  known  in  Christian  lands  and  phil- 
osophies as  a  well  rounded,  symmetrical  and  per- 
fect character.     For  many  reasons  and  in  many  ways 


cHRisriANirr  contrasted  91 

it  has  aimed  at  a  very  different  consummation  in 
man  from  that  consistently  sought  by  Christ  and 
His  religion. 

3.    The  Agency  and  Means  Recognized  and  Ap- 
pealed TO  BY  those  Faiths  Respectively. 

By  what  power  and  instrumentality  are  the  above 
ends  to  be  sought  and  attained }  They  will  be, 
doubtless,  quite  as  divergent  as  the  aims  themselves 
were  found  to  be. 

In  Christianity  God  Himself  is  the  agent  who 
works  out  its  scheme  of  salvation.  He  entered, 
through  infinite  condescension,  into  human  life  and 
relations  in  the  Incarnation.  He  wrought,  in  the 
days  of  His  flesh,  the  redemption  of  our  race— a 
work  which  finds  its  climax  in  His  atoning  death. 
In  the  person  of  the  Holy  Spirit  He  is  working  and 
bringing  to  full  fruition,  in  the  hearts  and  lives  of 
men,  the  redemption  which  He  wrought. 

Into  this,  man  enters  not  as  an  efficient  cause  of 
his  own  redemption.  He  cannot  atone  for  his  past, 
nor  has  he  the  assurance  within  himself  for  the 
future.  Hence  the  atoning  sacrifice  of  Christ  and  the 
indwelling  of  the  Spirit  of  God  which  becomes  in 
him  a  source  of  peace,  of  power  and  of  hope.  Yet, 
in  this  divine  work,  man  is  neither  passive  nor 
apathetic.  In  the  exercise  of  saving  faith  he  not  only 
appropriates  the  works  and  gifts  of  God  but  also 
enters  into  full  and  active  harmony  and  cooperation 
with  God  in  his  own  regeneration  and  salvation. 
So  that  the  Apostle  Paul  aptly  urges  the  Philippian 
Christians  (Phil.  2:  12)  to  "work  out  your  own 
salvation   with  fear  and  trembling;   for  it  is  God 


92  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

which  worketh  in  you  both  to  will  and  to  work  for 
His  good  pleasure." 

How  different  is  the  picture  presented  to  us  by  the 
Hindu  Shastras  of  the  means  of  human  redemption — 
a  picture,  however,  consonant  with  the  aims  which 
they  have  set  before  themselves  to  accomplish  for 
man.  The  first  and  all-present  fact  of  this  faith  is 
the  terrible  loneliness  and  isolation  of  man  in  the 
great  struggle  of  life.  His  destiny  is  in  his  own 
hands,  and  he  must  fight  single-handed  against  a 
thousand  odds  in  the  awful  battle  for  emancipation. 

Karma  is  the  word  used  to  express  this  thought 
which  has  possessed  the  Hindu  mind  from  the 
earliest  days  to  the  present.  This  word  may  be 
translated  "works,"  and  means  the  acts  by  which 
the  soul  determines  its  own  destiny.  In  Vedic  times 
the  all-powerful  works  were  sacrifice  and  ritual.  In 
the  Upanishads  they  are  meditation  and  self-mortifi- 
cation. Today  they  are  ceremonial,  with  works  of 
charity,  self-renunciation  or  religious  mendicancy 
generally  added. 

In  pre-Buddhistic  days  sacrifice  abounded  in  Brah- 
manism;  and  it  grew  to  such  proportions  that  the 
revolt  headed  by  Gautama  and  incarnated  in  Bhud- 
dism  became  universal.  But  vicariousness  was  largely 
wanting  as  an  element  in,  and  as  a  cause  of,  their 
sacrifices.  They  were  rather  offered  with  a  view  to 
nourish  the  gods  and  as  a  means  of  acquiring  power. 
He  who  sacrificed  a  hundred  horses  was  said  to  gain 
thereby  even  larger  power  than  Indra  himself  pos- 
sessed—a power  which  enabled  him  to  dethrone  this 
god  of  the  heavens.  Such  was  the  power  said  to 
inhere  in  sacrifice  that  the  gods  themselves  combined 


CHRISTIANITT  CONTRASTED    93 

to  prevent  men  from  the  practice  lest  they  should  rise 
to  larger  power  than  themselves!  With  the  triumph 
and  subsequent  absorption  of  Buddhism  into  Brah- 
manism  the  latter  abandoned  its  sacrifices  and  ac- 
cepted the  Buddhistic  emphasis  upon  Karma,  and 
doomed  every  soul  to  the  tread-mill  of  its  own 
destiny.  To  every  human  word,  deed  or  thought, 
however  insignificant,  there  is  fruit  which  must  be 
eaten  by  the  soul. 

It  is  claimed  for  this  doctrine  that  it  well  emphasizes 
the  conservation  of  moral  force.  Christianity  also 
conserves,  to  the  last,  moral  force;  not  however  by 
insisting  upon  man  bearing  himself  the  whole  bur- 
den, but  by  enabling  him  to  cast  the  burden  upon  the 
Lord  who  graciously  offers  to  bear  the  load  of  human 
guilt  belonging  to  every  soul. 

Another  word  in  India  which  is  synonymous  with 
large  power  and  merit  is  Yoga.  It  is  inculcated  in 
the  Yoga  philosophy  and  is  supposed  to  stand  for  a 
high  mental  discipline  which  speedily  qualifies  one 
for  absorption  into  the  Deity.  It  is  manifested  in  the 
form  of  abstract  meditation  and  austerity— an  auster- 
ity embodied  in  asceticism  and  self-mortification. 
From  early  times  this  method  has  been  held  high  in 
honour,  and  today  is  universally  esteemed  as  the  most 
powerful  and  speedy  boat  wherewith  to  cross  the 
sullen  stream  of  human  existence.  The  grand  object 
of  Yoga  is  to  teach  how  to  concentrate  the  mind — an 
object  based  upon  the  idea  that  the  great  and  sole 
need  of  man  is  not  moral  and  spiritual  regeneration, 
but  more  light,  /.  e.,  a  clear,  intellectual  apprehension 
of  things.  Not  only  is  this  basis  of  philosophy  false 
in  supposing  that  such  intellectual  gymnastics  can 


94  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

finally  exalt  and  save  a  soul,  it  is  also  radically  defect- 
ive in  its  general  rules  and  practical  results.  No  one 
who  has  studied  the  childish  rules  which  are  pre- 
scribed to  the  Yogis,  or  has  observed  in  India  many 
of  even  the  better  type  of  Yogis  can  fail  to  be  im- 
pressed with  the  degradation  to  mind  and  morals 
which  is  indissolubly  connected  with  it.  Earth's 
observation  on  the  processes  of  Yoga  is  eminently 
true.  ''Conscientiously  observed,"  he  says,  *'they 
can  only  issue  in  folly  and  idiocy;  and  it  is,  in  fact, 
under  the  image  of  a  fool  or  an  idiot  that  the  wise 
man  is  often  delineated  for  us  in  the  Puranas  for 
instance."^ 

Meditation  upon  the  Divine  Being  and  upon  self  is 
a  supreme  duty  inculcated  by  Christianity.  Here 
God  is  a  Personality  upon  whom  the  mind  can  be 
centred  and  find  rest  and  exaltation.  The  self  also 
is  conceived  as  a  being  with  a  separate  and  infinitely 
high  destiny  marked  out  before  it.  Concentrated 
thought,  deep  emotion  and  lofty  purpose,  in  view  of 
these  objects,  is  supremely  profitable.  But  what  is 
there  left  worthy  of  thought  for  the  Vedantist  Yogi 
when  the  Divine  Being  is  the  unknowable  and  the 
Yogi  himself  the  deluded  child  of  {Maya)  illusion  and 
{avidya)  ignorance— those  twin  enemies  to  all  true 
and  worthy  knowledge  }  It  cannot  be  elevating  to 
detach  the  mind  from  things  worldly  and  attach  it  to 
nothing! 

j    Incarnation,  as  we  have  seen  above,  has  in  later 

/times    become  a  popular    doctrine  in   India.     The 

I  avatars  ("descents")   of    members   of    the   Hindu 

'  pantheon,  especially  of  Vishnu,  the  second  member 

1  "  The  Religions  of  India,"  page  di-^. 


CHRISriANITT  CONTRASTED    95 

of  the  Triad,  wield  a  large  influence  in  the  religious 
life  of  the  masses.  Yet  the  doctrines  should,  by  no 
means,  be  regarded  as  identical  or  even  similar  in 
Hinduism  and  Christianity.  It  should  be  remem- 
bered that  in  Hinduism  it  is  believed  and  magnified 
by  those  who  also  hold  the  law  of  Karma  as  supreme. 
There  is  hardly  a  Vaishmavite  and  Krishnaolater  who 
does  not  believe  firmly  that  his  destiny  is  writ  large 
upon  his  forehead— that  nothing  that  this  or  any  god 
may  do  can  affect  his  adrishta  which  is  that  felt  but 
unseen  power  working  out  the  Karma  vivaka,  or 
fruition  of  works,  done  by  him  in  former  births. 
This  belief  directly  antagonizes  incarnation  from  the 
Christian  standpoint,  where  it  appears  as  God's 
mighty  instrument  of  grace  to  man.  Not  so  from  / 
the  Hindu  standpoint.  The  incarnations  of  Vishnu^' 
are  referred  to  in  their  Shastras  "as  consequences  of 
deeds  which  the  god  himself  had  performed.  On© 
was  the  fruit  of  sins  he  had  committed;  another  of  a 
curse  which  had  been  pronounced  upon  him."  And 
yet  they  are  doubtless  frequently  referred  to  as  under- 
taken with  a  view  to  benefit  and  help  our  race.  If 
such  was  their  intention  it  is  difficult  to  see  how  that 
benefit  could  be  any  other  than  racial  and  temporary; 
for  there  is  no  intimation  in  any  of  them  of  its  being 
a  means  for  the  spiritual  uplifting,  or  moral  regenera- 
tion, of  one  human  soul. 

There  is  no  finality  of  blessing  supposed  to  be  in 
any  Hindu  incarnation;  and  it  would  be  sacrilege  to 
compare  the  character  of  any  one  of  them  with  the 
wonderful  incarnation  of  Jesus.  It  is  not  so  much 
that  many  of  them  appear  as  fish,  fowl  and  beast, 
and  as  such  are  devoid  of  moral  aim  and  efficiency  j 


96  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

not  a  few  are  immoral,  some  of  them,  like  Krishna, 
representing  the  worst  type  of  sensuality  and  moral 
obliquity.  Such  examples,  in  the  popular  mythology 
of  the  land,  have  done,  and  are  doing,  inexpressible 
harm  to  the  people  and  the  country.  "  Like  God  like 
people";  and  when  the  god  is  highly  popular  and 
conspicuously  immoral  the  result  will  be  correspond- 
ingly great. 

In  connection  with  the  doctrine  of  avatar  has 
arisen  the  well-known  bhakti  marga — **  the  way  of 
faith."  Many  believe  that  the  latter  was  the  source 
of  the  former  and  that  both  were  affected  by  Chris- 
tian teaching.  In  any  case  they  are  closely  con- 
nected. Among  many  this  way  of  love  and  devotion 
to  individual  gods  has  gained  preeminence  over  the 
other  two  ways  of  salvation — knowledge  (gnana 
marga)  and  works  (Karma-marga) — though  it  should 
not  be  forgotten  that  bhakti  itself  is  regarded  as  a 
work  of  merit  and  is  by  no  means  synonymous  with 
Christian  faith.  Yet  it  must  be  confessed,  as  we 
have  seen  above,  that  Hinduism  comes  nearer,  at  this 
point  than  at  any  other,  to  touching  the  religion  of 
Jesus. 

The  blindness  of  this  faith  is  also  a  serious  objec- 
tion to  it.  To  the  bhaktan  '*  faith  is  the  great  thing." 
It  matters  not  how  hideous,  morally  and  spiritually, 
the  object  of  faith  may  be,  bhakti  will  triumphantly 
vindicate  itself  in  the  ultimate  salvation  of  the  soul. 
"  Repose  faith  in  the  idols,  in  ceremonial  observ- 
ances, in  ascetic  performances,  in  all  that  you  relig- 
iously do,  and  blessing  will  rest  upon  you."  This  is 
the  bhaktan' s  creed;  it  is  essentially  the  teaching  of 
the  ''Divine  Song" — Bhagavad-Gita.     And  it  is  this 


cHRisriANirr  contrasted  97 

which  has  so  powerfully  helped  the  moral  and  spir- 
itual degeneracy  of  India  during  the  past  few  cen- 
turies.    Men  have  attached  themselves  absolutely  to 
gods  whose  mythology,  detailed  in  the  Puranas  and 
Tantras,  is  a  narrative  of  lust  and  of  moral  crooked-  i 
ness,  devotion  to  which  can  mean  only  moral  con- 
tamination  and  spiritual  death.     Such  a  faith,  in  its 
nature  and  results,  can  only  be  contrasted  with  a  I 
loving  devotion  to  the  incomparably  holy  and  lovely  ; 
Jesus. 

4.    The  Processes  of  These  Two  Religions. 

In  other  words  we  inquire,  in  what  manner  do 
they  propose  to  attain  unto  their  respective  ends  } 

Christianity  brings  man  into  the  new,  divine  life 
through  the  narrow  gate  of  a  new  birth.  He  stands 
justified  before  God  and,  under  the  influence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  he  begins  that  course  of  spiritual  devel- 
'opment  which  steadily  progresses  towards  perfection 
in  truth  and  holiness.  He,  **  beholding  as  in  a  glass 
the  glory  of  the  Lord  is  changed  into  the  same  image 
from  glory  to  glory  even  as  by  the  spirit  of  the 
Lord."  And  in  the  fullness  of  his  acquired,  or 
divinely  bestowed,  powers  he  passes  through  the 
gate  of  death,  once  for  all,  to  enter  upon  the  full 
glories  of  eternal  life  beyond. 

In  Hinduism  metempsychosis  is  the  great  process. 
'*As  the  embodied  soul,"  says  the  Bhagavad- 
Gita,  "moves  swiftly  on  through  boyhood,  youth 
and  age,  so  will  it  pass  through  other  forms  here- 
after." This  doctrine  is  universally  regarded  as  the 
all-potent  solvent  of  human  ills  and  the  process 
which  alone  can  lead  to  ultimate  rest.    In  trans- 


98  INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

migration  the  soul  is  supposed  to  pass  on  from  body 
to  body  in  its  wearisome,  dismal  progress,  towards 
emancipation.  The  bodies  in  which  it  is  incarcerated 
will  be  of  all  grades,  according  to  the  character  of  the 
life  in  the  previous  births,  from  the  august  and  divine 
body  of  a  Brahman  down  to  a  tenement  of  inor- 
ganic, lifeless  rock.  From  ancient  times  this  weary 
process  of  working  out  the  law  of  Karma  has  seized 
upon  the  imagination  and  wrought  itself  into  the 
very  being  of  the  people  of  India;  so  that  today  it  is 
the  universal  way  of  salvation  believed  and  taught 
by  the  Vedantin,  accepted  with  assurance  by  the 
idolater,  and  the  one  great  bugbear  in  the  mind  of 
even  the  common  coolie. 

This  doctrine  has  its  roots  in  Vedantism  and  is  an 
essential  part  of  it.  The  Brahman  theosophist  taught 
that  all  souls  emanated  from  Brahm  and  must  return 
to  their  source  along  the  way  of  metempsychosis. 
All  acts,  words  and  thoughts  find  their  exact  reward 
in  future  births.  If  a  man  steals  a  cow  he  shall  be 
reborn  as  a  crocodile  or  lizard;  if  grain,  as  a  rat;  if 
fruit,  as  an  ape.  The  murderer  of  a  Brahman  en- 
dures long-suffering  in  the  several  hells  and  is  then 
born  again  in  the  meanest  bodies  to  atone  for  his 
crime.  According  to  Manu  the  soul  might  pass 
** through  ten  thousand  millions"  of  births.  The 
passageway  to  absorption  is  through  Brahmanhood 
only.     Transmigration  is  the  doom  of  all  others. 

The  prevalence  of  this  doctrine  in  India  is  one  of 
the  saddest  facts  connected  with  its  life.  It  is 
sombre  and  depressing  in  the  extreme  and  robs  the 
mind  of  a  good  portion  of  the  small  comfort  which 
the  idea  of  absorption  might  otherwise  bring  to  it. 


CHRISTIANirr  CONTRASTED    99 

Though  the  doctrine  has  found  a  footing  among 
other  nations  at  different  periods  in  their  history,  no- 
where else  has  it  prevailed  so  long  and  exercised 
such  a  mighty  influence  over  high  and  low  as  it  has 
in  that  land. 

The  doctrine  is  based  upon  a  hypothetical  identity 
of  soul  in  different  successive  bodies— a  hypothesis 
which  can  never  be  proved,  and  which  contradicts 
the  universal  consciousness.  Until  that  erratic  Eng- 
lishwoman, Mrs.  Besant,  appeared,  no  one  claimed 
to  possess  the  first  intimation,  through  consciousness 
or  memory,  of  a  previous  existence  in  another  body. 
Ancient  rishis  and  a  few  others  were  said  by  others 
to  have  possessed  it.  Strange,  if  such  a  re-incarnation 
were  a  fact,  that  none  has  ever  been  assured  of  it  by 
any  other  agent  than  the  philosopher  in  his  search 
after  truth.  Stranger  still  that  men  in  such  countless 
millions  should  hang  their  whole  destiny  upon  so 
rotten  a  cord — so  unethical  a  theory — as  is  here  in- 
volved. Why  should  any  moral  being  be  put 
through  a  course  of  discipline,  or  be  punished,  for  a 
past  of  which  he  has  no  knowledge  ?  To  inflict  a 
punishment  for  any  conduct  or  thought  to  which  the 
memory  does  not  bear  evidence,  nor  conscience  fur- 
nish assent,  nor  the  whole  realm  of  conscious  ex- 
perience reveal  a  trace,  is  both  unethical  and  in  viola- 
tion of  the  deepest  laws  of  being. 

Nor  does  it  appear  how  this  process,  as  a  method 
of  discipline,  can  achieve  what  is  expected  of  it.  It 
is  maintained  that,  ultimately,  all  the  myriads  of 
separate  souls  will  cross  over  this  terrible  stream  of 
human  existence  and  reach  the  further  shore  of 
emancipation.     But    what    aptitude,    or    efficiency, 


ICO         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

there  can  be  in  metempsychosis  itself  to  reach  this 
end  is  not  apparent.  That  the  soul  should  ultimately 
reach  beatitude  rather  than  absolute,  irremedial,  deg- 
radation through  this  process  is  merely  assumed,  and 
that  without  adequate  foundation  in  reason. 

In  view  of  the  well-known  power  of  sin  and  its 
tendency  to  settle  down,  through  habit,  into  a 
permanent  type  of  character;  in  view  of  the  well- 
attested  scientific  doctrine  of  heredity — a  doctrine 
which  easily  accounts  for  and  explains  every  sem- 
blance of  truth  in  transmigration — it  seems  incredible 
that  any  soul  in  India  could,  through  transmigration, 
finally  emerge  out  of  the  quicksand  of  sin  and  cor- 
ruption which  surround  and  overwhelm  it,  especially 
when  it  is  assumed  that  it  has  already  passed  through 
many  births. 

It  should  also  be  remembered  that,  at  its  basis,  this 
doctrine  has  its  face  turned,  with  equal  repugnance, 
against  all  sorts  of  work.  Desire  of  every  kind,  good 
as  well  as  evil,  is  to  be  suppressed  inasmuch  as  it  is 
the  source  of  action,  and  action  must  bear  its  fruit, 
the  eating  of  which  prolongs  existence  which,  itself, 
is  the  burden  to  be  removed.  The  question  is  not 
how  to  become  good  and  to  overcome  evil  in  life, 
but  how  to  shake  off  all  personality.  And  this  is 
accomplished,  they  say,  by  abandoning  all  action  and 
suppressing  all  desire  whatever.  How  this  can  re- 
sult in  holiness  and  lofty  character  is  not  evident.  It 
is  true  that  a  certain  sort  of  ''good  works"  have 
large  value  in  this  process  of  emancipation.  But 
quiescence  rather  than  character  is  the  thing  em- 
phasized. Noble  thoughts  and  aspirations  are  as 
fatal  as  are  the  basest  to  immediate  deliverance — they 


CHRISriANITT  CONTRASTED  loi 

all  disturb  that  equilibrium  of  the  soul  which  ushers 
it  into  its  final  rest.  ''The  confinement  of  fetters  is 
the  same  whether  the  chain  is  of  gold  or  of  iron." 

It  is  doubtless  true  that  this  doctrine  has  some 
elements  of  truth,  otherwise  it  could  not  have 
survived  and  thriven  as  it  has.  It  bears  consistent 
testimony  to  the  immortality  of  the  soul.  It  also 
teaches  the  important  truth  that  the  soul  must  receive 
the  full  reward  of  all  its  deeds  in  a  body.  It  is  also, 
in  a  certain  way,  a  response  to  that  deep  instinct  of 
justice  which  is  a  part  of  human  nature.  But  these 
cannot  atone  for  its  fundamental  defects  and  errors. 
Some  claim  that  its  highest  merit  is  that  it  is  a  power- 
ful deterrent  from  sin  and  incentive  to  virtue.  Beyond 
the  remarks  made  above  the  all-sufficient  refutation 
to  such  a  statement  is  the  present  condition  of  the 
Hindu  race  itself.  If  any  people  on  earth,  more  than 
others,  sin  with  ''fatal  facility"  and  seem  perfectly 
oblivious  to  the  character  and  consequences  of  their 
deeds  they  are  the  descendants  of  the  rishis  of  old 
and  the  heirs,  in  rich  abundance,  of  this  and  its 
cognate  doctrines.  To  judge  this  doctrine  by  its 
results  in  India  is  to  pronounce  it  an  error  and  a  curse. 

5.    The  Ideals  of  the  Two  Faiths. 

No  religion  can  regenerate  or  exalt  men  simply 
through  a  code  of  moral  laws,  or  even  through  im- 
passioned appeals  to  a  higher  life  and  threats  of 
eternal  punishment.  There  must  be,  above  and  be- 
yond all  this,  a  life  which  stands  boldly  forth  as  an 
example  and  inspiration  to  good  men.  The  noble 
example  of  the  royal  Gautama  did  more  perhaps  than 
any  other  thing  to  disseminate  Bhuddism  .throughout 


102         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

India.  His  supreme  renunciation  and  his  loyalty  to 
truth  exalted  him  before  his  disciples  and  transformed 
him  into  an  ideal  for  Bhuddists  of  future  ages.  This 
also  is  a  preeminent  characteristic  of  Christianity. 
It  is  the  religion  of  the  Christ.  He  stands  supreme  in 
it — not  merely  as  its  Founder,  Expounder  and  Life. 
He  is  also  the  embodiment  of  His  own  teaching,  the 
ideal  of  life  and  conduct  which  He  has  brought  to 
men.  His  command  to  all  is  not — *'Do  this  or 
that";  but  ''Follow  Me" — not,  ''Believe  in  this 
truth  or  another,"  but  "Believe  in  Me,"  who  am 
"the  way,  the  truth  and  the  life."  For  these  twenty 
centuries  He  has  stood  before  the  world  as  the  in- 
comparable, unapproachable,  perfect  ideal  which  has 
wrought  more  for  the  regeneration  of  the  world 
than  all  other  forces  put  together. 

Do  we  find  any  counterpart  to  this  in  Hinduism  ? 
Do  we  find  any  life  or  example  which  stands  re- 
lated to  it  as  Bhuddha's  to  Bhuddhism  or  as  Mo- 
hammed's to  Mohammedanism,  or,  even  in  a  slight 
degree,  as  Christ's  to  Christianity  }  None  whatever. 
Starting  with  the  absolute  Brahm,  we  have  seen  this 
Supreme  Soul  shrouded  in  unfathomable,  unap- 
proachable darkness.  We  descend  to  the  divine 
emanations  of  this  eternal  Soul  and  search  in  vain 
among  the  millions  of  beings  which  constitute  the 
Hindu  pantheon  to  find  one  who  could  become  an 
ideal  of  life  and  an  inspiration  to  the  soul  struggling 
against  sin.  "Godlike  life  could^scarcely  start  from 
its  examples  of  incarnations;  for  none  of  their  lives 
is  superhuman  in  holiness.  Even  Rama,  the  most 
blameless  character  in  Hindu  mythological  literature, 
is  by  no  means  perfect;   while  the  most  popularly 


CHRISTIANirr  CONTRASTED  103 

worshipped  incarnation  committed  deeds  so  vile  that 
even  the  narrator  warns  his  hearers  not  to  take  him 
for  their  example.  *  Listen  to  the  story  of  Hari,  but 
do  not  think  of  doing  his  deeds,'  he  says." 

We  look  again  at  the  sages  and  heroes  of  India 
with  the  hope  that  we  may  possibly  find  one  who 
stood  conspicuous  among  others  as  the  perfect  type 
of  character  and  the  helper  of  those  struggling  after  a 
better  and  holier  life.  Here  again  we  are  wofully 
disappointed,  though  it  must  be  confessed  that  there 
are  loftier  types  of  goodness  and  of  self-discipline 
among  them  than  we  found  among  the  gods.  Thus, 
with  no  worthy  ideal  of  life  before  them  and  no  one 
to  inspire  them  to  better  things,  the  wonder  is 
that  men  in  India  have  not  descended  to  a  lower  level 
than  they  have.  It  is  perhaps  this  very  reason  that 
has  discouraged  them  and  has  led  them  to  strive  to 
attain  unto  beatitude,  not  by  perfecting,  but  by  des- 
troying humanity.  The  renunciation  and  loss,  rather 
than  the  realization,  of  self  has  thus  become  their  aim 
and  ambition.  Perhaps  it  is  for  this  same  reason  also 
that  the  votaries  of  this  faith  have  constructed  one  of 
the  most  elaborate  systems  of  ceremonial  and  ritual 
that  the  world  has  ever  witnessed;  whereby,  in  the 
absence  of  a  high  ideal  and  of  a  divine  inspiration, 
the  whole  life  from  birth  even  until  after  death,  may 
be  directed  and  protected  from  evil. 

6.     The  Credentials  of  the  Two  Faiths. 

Each  has  its  Scriptures  in  which  are  found  its 
original  teachings  including  a  declaration  of  its  source 
and  message  to  man.  Beyond  this  general  statement 
very  little  can  be  predicated  of  these  two  in  common. 


I04         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

The  theories  of  their  inspiration  are  dissimilar.  In 
the  Bible  there  is  no  theory  of  inspiration  taught. 
Its  testimony  to  its  own  divine  origin  is  indirect 
rather  than  direct.  And  yet  the  evidence,  both  in- 
ternal and  external,  that  the  Bible  was  written  by 
men  under  Divine  guidance  and  inspiration  is  un- 
mistakable and  convincing.  Whether  we  have  re- 
gard to  its  prophetic  utterances,  its  record  of  miracles, 
its  plan  of  salvation,  its  delineation  of  the  incompar- 
able life  and  character  of  Jesus  Christ;  or  whether  we 
behold  its  marvellous  power  among  men  of  all  classes 
and  of  all  countries  and  tongues^all  that  pertain  to 
it  point  unmistakably  to  its  divine  origin. 

Nor  can  any  one  fail  to  appreciate  the  beauty  and 
sublimity  of  some  of  the  Vedic  hymns  of  the  Hindus 
or  the  profound  depth  of  the  philosophic  reach  of  the 
Upanishads,  those  sublime  **  guesses  at  truth,"  or  the 
great  excellence  of  the  Bhagavad-Gita  which  is  the 
gem  of  all  Hindu  literature.  And  yet  the  puerilities 
of  many  and  the  obscenity  of  others  of  the  Vedic 
songs  and  prayers  are  well-known.  So  are  the 
strange  vagaries  and  the  rambling  character  of  many 
parts  of  the  Upanishads.  And  as  for  the  Bhagavad- 
Gita  it  is  simply  a  dialogue  whose  gist  is  the  argu- 
ment of  Krishna — "the  Supreme  God" — to  urge  the 
tender-hearted  and  the  conscience-smitten  Arjuna  to 
slay  his  relatives  in  war.  Its  argument  is  that  no  evil 
which  one  man  may  do  to  another  is  of  any  moment, 
since  he  cannot  touch  his  soul  which  is  eternal  and 
beyond  the  reach  of  any  human  power!  In  the 
destiny  of  a  soul  what  can  the  destruction  of  one  of 
its  bodies  signify  ?  This  is  an  argument  which  is 
subversive  of  morality  and  of  social  order. 


CHRISriANirr  CONTRASTED  105 

When  one  leaves  these  earlier  scriptures  of  Brah- 
manism  and  takes  up  the  later  productions — the  Pu- 
ranas  and  Tantras — he  comes  into  a  very  different 
atmosphere,  most  of  which  is  morally  pestilential 
and  spiritually  degrading.  The  ascription  of  divine 
inspiration  and  special  heavenly  guidance  in  the  pro- 
duction of  such  literature  is  nought  else  but  blas- 
phemy. To  pass  over  from  the  study  of  the  Bible, 
with  its  transcendent  beauty,  its  perfect  ethics,  its 
heavenly  spirit,  its  Divine  Saviour  and  way  of  salva- 
tion, to  the  Scriptures  of  India,  especially  the  more 
recent  parts,  is  to  exchange  the  pure  air  of  heaven 
for  the  charnel  house. 

The  "divine  brevity  "of  the  Bible  is  one  of  its 
most  striking  features.  Few  things  could  impress 
one  with  the  heavenly  source  of  this  Book  more 
markedly  than  its  wonderful  omissions. 

How  very  different  when  we  examine  the  count- 
less tomes  of  the  sacred  literature  of  India!  If  the 
salvation  of  a  soul  depended  upon  the  reading  of 
even  a  hundredth  part  of  these,  who  then  could  be 
saved?  Their  very  multiplicity  and  their  volumi- 
nous character  debar  any  man,  however  learned,  from 
an  acquaintance  with  more  than  a  small  fraction  of 
them.  Moreover,  among  learned  pandits  of  today 
the  Smriti  (traditions)  are  more  frequently  quoted  as 
authority,  and  they  wield  a  larger  power  over  the  life 
of  the  people,  than  the  Sruti  (revelation)  itself. 

In  the  Christian  Bible  we  are  permitted  to  see  a 
progressive  revelation.  From  age  to  age,  and  from 
page  to  page,  we  see  new  glimpses  of  truth  and  are 
attracted  by  the  divine  light  whose  illumination 
grows  ever  brighter    from   Genesis  to   Revelation. 


io6         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

This  is  what  we  should  have  expected  from  a  God- 
inspired  book.  We  should  have  looked  forward  to  a 
gradual  transition  from  the  starry  midnight  of  the 
far-off  past  to  the  rising,  in  Christ,  of  the  sun  of 
righteousness  with  healing  in  His  wings. 

In  Hindu  literature  this  process  is  reversed.  The 
surest,  I  may  almost  say,  the  only,  evidence  we  have 
of  divine  guidance  in  the  production  of  this  literature 
is  to  be  found  among  the  earliest  productions.  There 
we  see  earnestness  of  purpose  combined  with  heav- 
enly aspiration  and  deep  searching  after  truth.  Sub- 
sequent to  this  we  see  the  light  vanishing  and  ear- 
nestness giving  place  to  triviality  of  thought,  to  the 
ravings  of  superstition,  to  the  inanities  of  ceremonial- 
ism and  to  the  laws  of  social  and  religious  bondage. 
All  this  progress  downward  is  in  direct  ratio  to  our 
distance  from  Vedic  times. 

What  could  be  more  conclusive  proof  of  the 
human  source  and  direction  of  these  prolific  writ- 
ings }  Educated  Hindus  are  sensible  of  this  fact. 
They  constantly  hark  back  to  the  Vedas,  to  the  Upan- 
ishads  and  to  the  Bhagavad-Gita,  conscious  of  the 
fact  that  these  represent  the  high  water-mark  of  their 
faith  and  literature. 

7.    Other  Distinguishing  Traits. 

These  are  not  a  few,  and  they  aid  in  presenting  the 
two  faiths  in  bold  relief. 

{a)  Their  attitude  towards  the  individual  and  So- 
ciety. Nowhere  are  they  more  antipodal  to  each 
other  than  here.  Christianity  is  preeminently  a  faith 
which  exalts  the  individual.  It  presents,  with 
marked  clearness,  his  rights  and  responsibilities.     His 


CHRISriANirr  CONTRASTED  107 

liberty  of  thought,  of  belief  and  of  action,  is  funda- 
mentally sacred  and  to  be  conserved  at  all  hazards. 

Hinduism  is  the  staunchest  foe  of  individual  free- 
dom. It  concedes  no  right  to  the  individual  which 
others  are  bound  to  respect.  It  has  erected  above 
the  individual,  and  in  such  a  way  as  to  overshadow 
him  entirely,  the  stupendous  caste  system.  And  it 
has  subordinated  his  every  right  and  privilege  to  the 
whim  of  this  demon  caste.  Man  is  its  abject  slave— 
cannot  swerve  one  inch  from  its  dictates;  and  these 
reach  down  to  the  smallest  detail  of  his  life.  If  the 
vast  majority  of  the  members  of  a  caste  were  high  in 
their  morals  and  strict  in  their  integrity  and  pure  in 
their  beliefs,  the  aid  to  a  higher  life  which  this 
system  might  render  to  the  individual  would,  in 
small  part,  compensate  for  its  destruction  of  his 
manly  independence.  But  caste  discipline  directs 
itself  to  petty  forms  and  observances  and  to  the  per- 
petuation of  mean  jealousies  rather  than  to  the  de- 
velopment of  character. 

In  India  alone  is  caste  a  religious  institution.  The 
Brahman  merged  the  individual  in  the  corporate 
body,  thus  perfecting  his  bondage;  and  he  set  class 
against  class  to  prevent  the  lower  from  rising  and  to 
make  national  union  impossible.  Men  were  said  to 
have  been  created  differently  even  as  different  kinds 
of  animals;  to  bring  them  together  is  as  unnatural  as 
it  is  sinful. 

Thus,  every  man  within  the  pale  of  this  religion 
has  his  social,  as  his  religious,  status  fixed  unchange- 
ably for  him  before  his  birth;  and  woe  be  to  him 
who  tries  to  shake  off  this  bondage,  or  even  in  a 
sniall  degree  to  kick  against  the  pricks.    No  better 


io8         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

system  than  this  has  been  devised  under  heaven  to 
rob  man  of  his  birthright  of  independence  and  self- 
respect.  And  the  population  of  India  bears,  in  its 
character  and  conduct,  ample  testimony  to  the  truth 
of  this  statement. 

(b)    Connected  closely  with  this  is  another  aspect. 

The  religion  of  Jesus  fosters  progress.  Not  only 
do  we  behold  Christian  nations  the  most  progressive, 
we  also  find  that  as  this  faith  obtains  in  its  purity,  so 
do  its  votaries  enjoy  the  large  spirit  and  results  of 
progress,  both  in  religion,  science,  the  arts  and  in 
civilization.  In  India,  on  the  other  hand,  conserva- 
tism is  a  fetish  and  custom  a  divine  law  of  conduct. 
In  the  West  the  question  asked,  as  men  approach  a 
certain  line  of  action,  is  whether  it  be  reasonable  ? 
Among  Hindus  the  invariable  inquiry  is, — is  it  custo- 
mary ? — did  our  forefathers  practice  it  ?  This  again 
is  the  legitimate  product  of  the  caste  system.  It  con- 
serves and  deifies  the  past.  It  never  tolerates  a 
question  as  to  the  wisdom  of  the  ancients.  The  code 
of  Manu,  which  is  the  source  and  supreme  authority 
for  this  system,  has  done  more  to  stereotype  and  de- 
grade social  and  religious  life  in  India  than  has  any 
other  code  in  all  the  history  of  other  lands. 

{c)  Another  marked  feature  of  the  religion  of 
Jesus  is  its  exclusiveness.  It  claims  to  be  the  only 
way  of  salvation.  Not  that  it  is  unwilling  to  ac- 
knowledge the  truths  which  are  found  in  other 
faiths.  While  it  recognizes  such,  it  maintains  that 
they  are  but  broken  lights  of  the  Truth  which  it  pre- 
sents in  all  its  full-orbed  glory.  It  reveals  Christ  as 
the  fulfillment  of  the  good  and  pious  of  all  nations, 
and    His  revelation  as  the   realization  of  all  truth 


CHRISriANirr  CONTRASTED  109 

wherever  found.  But  as  a  means  of  salvation  it 
stands  alone,  and  will  brook  no  rivalry  nor  accept 
divided  homage. 

In  Hinduism,  on  the  other  hand,  we  see  tolerance 
incarnate.  It  is  true  that  the  caste  system  lends  itself 
readily  to  intolerance,  that  some  of  the  most  refined 
and  cruel  forms  of  persecution  are  conducted  by  it 
against  Christians  today.  Yet  in  itself  this  faith  has 
a  genius  for  toleration.  It  does  not  go  out  of  its  way 
to  attack  other  faiths.  On  the  contrary  it  generally 
reaches  forward  the  flag  of  truce  and  peace  to  them. 
It  willingly  appropriates  much  of  their  teaching  and 
ritual.  It  placed  in  its  pantheon  its  arch-enemy, 
Buddha,  and  has  dignified  many  of  the  demons  of 
the  primitive  cult  of  South  India  in  the  same  way. 
And  herein  lie  the  subtle  power  and  supreme  danger 
which  inhere  in  it  to  other  faiths. 

(d)  It  must  also  be  remembered  that  the  faith  of 
India  is  an  ethnic  faith,  with  no  ambition  to  reach  to 
other  peoples  beyond  that  peninsula.  This  faith  has 
a  hundred  ways  of  expelling  and  excommunicating 
its  members  and  only  one  doubtful  door  by  which  it 
may  receive  outsiders,  namely,  by  the  formation  of  a 
new  caste. 

Christianity,  on  the  other  hand,  is  preeminently  a 
missionary  religion.  It  claims  to  be  the  universal 
faith.  The  last  commandment  of  the  Lord  upon 
earth  and  the  first  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  upon  His 
descent  was  to  propagate  the  faith  and  to  carry  it  to 
many  lands  and  peoples.  Hinduism  is  conserved  by 
its  social  organism  of  caste;  Christianity,  by  its 
leavening  influence  upon  all  that  comes  in  contact 
with  it,  and  the  outreaching  power  of  its  life  within. 


no         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

(e)  Another  difference  is  observable  in  the  fact 
that  while  Christianity  is  always  held  as  a  system  of 
saving  truth  to  be  believed,  Hinduism,  in  its  accept- 
ance, does  not  involve  the  necessary  belief  of  any 
doctrine  or  system  of  doctrine.  It  is  well  understood 
that  a  man  of  any  belief,  or  of  no  belief,  may  be  a 
genuine  and  orthodox  Hindu  provided  he  observes 
caste  rules  and  ceremonies.  It  has  been  more  than 
once  insisted  upon  that  a  man  may  accept  Christ  as 
his  Saviour  and  His  religion  as  his  firm  belief  and 
still  remain  a  Hindu  if  he  only  submit  to  the  demands 
of  caste.  Not  a  few  Hindus  are  trying  to  live  up  to 
this  strange  dual  system  today!  And  I  fear  some  na- 
tive Christians  have  not  got  rid  of  the  same  delusion. 

(/)  There  is  also  a  marked  difference  in  the  moral 
standards  of  the  two  faiths.  In  a  certain  sense  the 
moral  code  of  Brahmanism,  at  its  best,  is  lofty  if  not 
perfect.  It  enjoins  a  man  not  to  lie,  not  to  steal, 
not  injure  another,  to  be  just,  brave,  hospitable  and 
self-controlled.  Some  savage  races  inculcate,  with 
more  or  less  severity,  the  same  moral  lessons. 
But  to  Hindus  as  to  savages  these  injunctions  have 
represented  the  moral  code;  and  whoever,  among 
them,  attains  unto  these,  mostly  negative,  virtues,  is 
deemed  worthy  of  praise.  In  a  sense  the  ten  com- 
mandments communicated  through  Moses,  obtain 
among  Christians  and  are  enjoined  upon  them  to- 
day. But  they,  rather  than  represent  the  Christian's 
ideal,  indicate  only  the  low  water  mark  of  his  moral 
requirements.  To  say  of  a  Christian  gentleman  to- 
day that  he  does  not  steal,  or  does  not  lie,  is  rather 
an  insult  than  a  compliment,  since  it  assumes  that  he 
possesses  only  what  is  now  considered  a  very  ele- 


cHRisriANirr  contrasted  i  i  i 

mentary  form  of  morality,  such  as  the  lower  classes 
and  children  are  supposed  to  practice.  It  is  only  as 
we  follow  Jesus  Christ  and  sublimate  this  code  in 
love  (Matt.  22:37-40)  that  we  rise  to  the  full  signifi- 
cance and  divine  content  of  morality.  The  Christian 
code  rests  not  in  negation,  but  commands  a  life  of 
outgoing,  active  love.  A  lofty  altruism  must  per- 
meate his  every  act  and  give  colouring  to  his  whole 
life.  Christ  not  only  introduced  and  emphasized  this 
golden  rule;  He  taught  that  it  was  absolutely  neces- 
sary (John  12:25;  Matt.  5:44). 

To  the  Hindu,  on  the  other  hand,  the  lex  talionis 
is  a  law  of  life  still  enforced.  See,  e.  g.,  Vishnu 
Purana  5 :  19.  He  never  thinks  nor  is  he  commanded 
by  his  religion  to  think,  of  aught  but  outward  con- 
formity to  a  moral  code  which  is  altogether  inade- 
quate to  keep,  direct  and  inspire  him  in  life.  This 
difficulty  is,  of  course,  enhanced  when  we  remember 
that  in  the  whole  realm  of  Hindu  life — whether  it  be 
of  gods  or  of  men — there  is  no  one  who  looms  up  as 
a  perfect  example.  It  is  therefore  little  wonder  that 
in  India  today  morality  is  at  so  low  an  ebb  and  that 
even  the  code  which  prevails  there  is  so  sadly  and 
universally  violated. 

Hopkins  aptly  remarks  in  this  connection:  ''This 
Christian  ideal  of  today,  which  makes  fair-minded- 
ness, liberality  of  thought,  and  altruism  the  respect- 
ive representatives  of  the  savage  virtues  of  manual 
honesty,  truth-speaking  and  hospitality,  is  just  what 
is  lacking  in  the  more  primitive  ideal  formulated  in 
the  code  of  savages  and  of  Brahman  alike.  .  .  . 
In  India  all  the  factors  of  the  modern  code  are  en- 
tirely lacking  at  the  time  when  the  old  code  was  first 


112         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

completely  formulated.  Liberality  of  thought  comes 
in  with  the  era  of  the  Upanishads;  but  it  is  a  re- 
stricted freedom.  Altruism  is  unknown  to  pure 
Brahmanism." 

Conclusion. 

Considering  therefore  these  two  faiths  in  all  their 
characteristics  and  tendencies  we  are  warranted  in 
concluding  that  Hinduism  must  wane  and  vanish. 
It  is  an  ancient  faith  and  has  survived  not  a  few 
storms.  It  has  a  strong  place  in  the  hearts  of  a  great 
people.  But  the  leaven  of  dissolution  and  death  is 
mightily  at  work  within  it  today.  The  times  are 
changed,  new  circumstances  are  bringing  in  a  revo- 
lution of  thought.  Foreign  ideas,  language  and  cus- 
toms are  the  rage;  a  new  civilization,  the  deadly  foe 
to  the  strongholds  of  the  faith,  is  supplanting  the 
old.  This  faith  has  nothing  to  offer  with  a  view  to 
meeting  this  new  and  complicated  situation.  It  op- 
poses all  progress;  through  its  pundits  and  orthodox 
defenders  it  antagonizes  modern  civilization  and 
scientific  advancement  at  every  point.  It  is  given  up 
to  degrading  idolatry  and  a  debasing,  all-absorbing 
ceremonialism.     It  is  the  foster-mother  of  ignorance. 

The  mighty  influence  of  Christianity,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  being  felt  by  all  in  the  land;  and  the  thou- 
sand-headed, thousand-handed  civilization  of  the 
West  is  grasping  and  slowly  transforming  all  their 
ideas  of  life.  Verily  India  is  in  the  throes  of  a  new 
birth.  Hinduism  has  done  some  good,  doubtless. 
It  has  had  a  mission  in  the  world  and  that  has  un- 
questionably been,  partly,  in  the  conservation  of  the 
great  doctrine  of  God's  immanence  at  a  time  when 


CHRISTIANirr  CONTRASTED  1 13 

the  western  world  had  largely  forgotten  it.  But 
this  work  is  no  longer  needed.  Today  this  truth  is 
emphasized  also  by  the  Christian  Church,  and  in  the 
safe  and  practical  way,  in  combination  and  harmony 
with  the  personality  and  fatherhood  of  God. 

We  can  therefore  look  forward  with  confidence  to 
the  ultimate  issue  of  this  great  conflict  and  see, 
through  faith,  the  day  when  Christ  shall  reign  su- 
preme in  that  land. 


THE  PRODUCTS  OF  THE  TWO  FAITHS  IN 
INDIA.     THE  HINDU  AND  THE  NA- 
TIVE CHRISTIAN— A   STUDY 

DURING  the  many  centuries  of  its  history 
and  working  in  India  Hinduism  has  had 
ample  opportunity  to  produce  its  own  type 
of  religious  devotee,  one  who  is  thoroughly  repre- 
sentative of  its  teaching  and  life.  This  type  abounds 
in  India  today  and  is  a  faithful  reflection  of  that 
faith.  We  shall  now  endeavour  to  study  that  living 
embodiment  of  Hinduism.  In  one  respect  it  will  be 
but  another  way  of  studying  the  faith  itself — per- 
haps the  best  of  all  methods  of  studying  a  religion,  for 
it  is  thus  presented  in  life  and  action. 

Protestant  Christianity  has  not  been  sufficiently 
long  in  India  to  develop  and  foster  an  Indian  type  of 
character  of  its  own.  And  yet  we  see  it  rapidly 
working  towards  that  consummation.  A  century  is 
too  brief  a  time  for  this  purpose.  Moreover,  native 
Christian  life  in  that  land  is  too  much  under  the 
dominance  and  guidance  of  the  West  to  enjoy  a  large 
degree  of  spontaneity;  and  without  spontaneity  life 
is  not  natural. 

Nevertheless,  the  century  that  has  passed  has 
brought  into  existence  the  fourth  generation  of 
Protestant  native  Christians  in  India;  and  we  are 
able  to  see,  to  some  extent,  among  these  descendants 

114 


The  TWO  FAITHS  IN  INDIA    115 

of  native  Christians  that  tendency  and  bent  which 
will  ere  long  develop  into  a  definite  and  settled  type 
of  its  own.  For  the  time  being  we  can  only  study 
the  native  Christian  as  a  prophecy — a  prophecy  not 
for  many  years  to  be  fulfilled  in  all  its  details,  and 
yet  worthy  of  study  both  in  itself  and  for  what  it 
suggests. 

Let  us  consider,  then,  these  types  of  the  two  faiths 
which  we  see  in  that  land. 

I.    And  First,  The  Hindu. 

The  Hindu  Devotee  is  a  genuine  product  of  his  re- 
ligion, wrought  out  during  thirty  centuries  on  its  na- 
tive heath.  He  stands  before  us  as  a  distinct  type 
whose  characteristics  differentiate  him  from  the  fol- 
lowers of  any  other  religion. 

It  is  well  to  remember  here  that  that  modern  prod- 
uct— the  Hindu  of  Western  culture  who  is  so  much 
in  evidence  today  in  India  and  who  sometimes 
comes  West  in  flowing  orange  robes  and  turban  to 
urge  his  mongrel  philosophy  upon  our  fellow-coun- 
trymen— is  not  the  type  of  Hindu  appreciated  by,  or 
representing,  the  people  of  that  land.  Neither  in  life 
nor  in  teaching  does  he  represent  the  faith  whose 
name  he  bears.  He  is  a  man  who  has  studied 
Western  thought  and  religion  under  the  guidance 
and  inspiration,  perhaps,  of  the  Christian  missionary; 
and  then  in  an  ingenious  way  strives  to  interpret  his 
own  faith  in  the  light  of  his  Western  attainments. 
He  presents  to  us  not  orthodox  Hinduism,  but  a 
mongrel  doctrine  and  philosophy  which  are  as  for- 
eign to  the  teaching  of  the  orthodox  Hindu  pundit 
and  as  alien  to  the  Hindu  Scriptures  as  they  are  to 


ii6         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

Western  philosophy  and  faith.  It  is  a  significant  fact 
that  all  these  Western-travelled  Hindus  have  first  to 
violate  a  fundamental  injunction  of  their  own  re- 
ligion— namely,  that  which  prohibits  sea  travelling  to 
a  Hindu— before  they  can  visit  the  West  in  order  to 
commend  their  faith.  And  when  they  return  to  their 
native  country  they  do  so  as  the  outcastes  of  their  re- 
ligion, and  can  be  reinstated  only  after  performing  a 
work  of  atonement  which  includes  the  disgusting 
act  of  eating  the  five  products  of  the  cow  ! 

The  real  Hindu,  who  stands  today  as  the  true  ex- 
ponent of  his  faith,  is  a  very  different  man.  He 
would  no  more  cross  the  seas  than  he  would  cut  off 
his  right  arm ;  for  he  knows  that  he  can  remain  a 
true  Hindu  only  so  long  as  he  remains  at  home.  He 
is  a  conservative  of  the  stiflfest  kind.  He  thinks  on 
ancient  lines  and  swears  by  the  rishis  of  old. 

(a)  Study  his  prepossessions  and  then  alone  can 
you  appreciate  his  heritage.  Though  he  may  not  be  a 
scholar  or  a  philosopher,  he  is  nevertheless  fortified 
by  a  host  of  religious  beliefs  and  prejudices.  A 
thousand  dogmas  and  prepossessions,  the  inherited 
treasures  of  thirty  centuries,  are  his.  He  drank  them 
in  with  his  mother's  milk;  he  has  breathed  them  in 
as  an  essential  part  of  his  daily  environment.  They 
are  more  than  second  nature  to  him  and  constitute 
largely  the  world  of  his  thought.  His  ideas  of  God, 
of  himself,  of  sin,  of  salvation,  of  human  life — all  are 
far  removed  from  ours  and  are  peculiarly  his  own. 
He  feels  himself  to  be  in  the  toils  of  an  iron  destiny 
which  slowly  grinds  him  to  powder.  His  concep- 
tion of  God  brings  him  no  ray  of  comfort,  or  hope 
of  release.     His  idea  is  that  his  sin  and  suffering  of 


IDOL  WORSHIP. 


RELIGIOUS  MENDICANTS. 


The  TTFO  FAITHS  IN  INDIA    117 

today  are  the  inflictions,  by  some  unknown  power, 
for  the  sins  of  supposed  former  births.  So  that  he 
must,  through  countless  ages,  work  out  his  own 
salvation — a  salvation  which  indeed  means  eternal 
rest;  but  it  is  a  rest  from  all  thought,  emotion,  self- 
consciousness  and  separate  existence  as  well  as  from 
all  work. 

Within  the  mighty  fascination  of  this  Vedantism 
the  people  have  been  held  through  the  centuries. 
And  it  is  a  doctrine  which  renders  the  highest  moral- 
ity impossible  and  has  proved  the  mightiest  soporific 
to  the  conscience.  A  few  years  ago  a  murderer  in 
South  India  was  being  led  from  the  court  of  justice 
to  prison  where,  soon,  he  was  to  be  executed  for  his 
crime.  As  he  was  struggling  in  the  street  with  the 
police,  a  missionary  accosted  him,  urging  him  to  con- 
fess his  sin  against  God  and  to  seek  his  peace. 
Whereupon  the  man  replied,  *'I  did  not  commit  the 
murder;  it  was  the  work  of  God  Himself,  in  whose 
hands  I  am  and  of  whom  I  am  part."  To  this  the 
missionary  replied  that  this  was  neither  true  nor 
worthy,  and  that  he  would  soon  suffer  the  full 
penalty  of  the  law  for  his  crime.  **Ah,  yes,"  he 
exclaimed,  **the  god  who  wrought  this  in  me  and 
through  me,  will  put  me  to  death.  It  is  all  his  and  I 
am  he." 

.  Such  is  the  line  of  thought  which  passes  through 
the  mind  of  the  orthodox  Hindu  devotee  under  all 
circumstances,  be  they  pleasant  or  disagreeable.  And 
it  is  one  of  the  most  difficult  things  for  him,  under 
these  circumstances,  to  cultivate  a  true  sense  of  re- 
sponsibility and  a  genuine  conception  of  sin  as  a 
moral  act. 


li8         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

(b)  See  again  his  ideals.  He  has  many  such  which 
influence  him  largely  in  his  life.  Much  depends  upon 
what  a  man  regards  as  the  Summiim  Bonum  of  life. 
The  supreme  blessing  which  the  Hindu  ever  holds  be- 
fore his  eyes,  a:  ^he  highest  and  last  attainment,  is 
union  with  God.  Not  a  union  of  sympathy,  but  a  meta- 
physical oneness  with  Brahm.  To  lose  himself  entirely 
in  the  Divine  Being  and  thus  to  cease  having  separate 
thought  or  existence,  and  to  pass  out  of  the  turmoil 
and  restlessness  of  human  life  into  the  calm  of  the 
passionless  bosom  of  the  Eternal — this,  to  him,  is 
the  ideal  which  alone  is  worthy  of  human  attain- 
ment. 

Again;  we,  Christians,  look  forward  to  a  complete 
self-realization,  to  a  perfect  manhood  and  a  full 
rounded  character  as  our  ideal.  The  opposite  ideal 
is  the  Hindu's.  He  seeks  the  loss  of  all  that  we  hold 
best — the  elimination  of  every  ambition  and  desire, 
the  eradication  of  all  love  and  altruism,  the  cessation 
of  all  activity — good  as  well  as  evil.  His  ideal  is  not 
greatness  and  goodness  of  heart,  but  the  renunciation 
of  all  that  animates  and  inspires.  To  him  the  high- 
est virtue  in  its  noblest  activity  has  no  charms;  for 
he  claims  that  he  looks  above  and  beyond  all  this  to 
that  absolute  equilibrium  of  soul  when  passion,  and 
when  all  desire,  shall  have  been  killed  through  self- 
mortification  and  self-abnegation  and  he  shall  have 
attained  mental  poise  and  repose  rather  than  a  per- 
fect character.  Thus,  in  its  last  analysis,  his  ideal  is 
an  intellectual,  rather  than  a  moral,  one;  for  it  is 
again  absorption  into  the  Divine  Soul;  and  that  he 
conceives  to  be  the  Supreme  Intelligence  rather  than 
the  Perfect  Will.     This  difference  of  ideal  between 


the  TWO  FAITHS  IN  INDIA    119 

the  two  faiths  is  fundamental  and  must  work  for 
very  diverse  results. 

In  harmony  with  this  is  the  other  thought  that  the 
body,  yea  each  and  every  body  with  which  the  soul 
may  clothe  itself,  is  an  unmitigated  evil  because  it  is 
the  highway  to  suffering  and  defers  the  final  con- 
summation. Hence,  the  Hindu  has  no  respect  for 
the  body  and  longs  for  the  day  of  final  emancipation 
from  flesh  and  all  its  ills. 

How  then  shall  the  soul  be  freed  from  its  many 
births  so  that  it  may  pass  out  of  this  bondage  into 
the  final  freedom  of  Sayutcha,  or  emancipation  }  To 
him  Yoga,  the  way  of  meditation,  represents  the 
highest  way  of  release.  To  wean  the  mind,  through 
this  process,  from  all  desire  and  ambition  and  thus  to 
reach  absolute  equilibrium  of  soul  is  the  object  of 
Yoga.  This  indeed  is  the  only  condition  whereby 
the  soul  can  rise  above  any  future  contact  with 
earthly  bodies. 

Consequently  the  Hindu  has,  for  many  centuries, 
looked  to  the  monastery  and  the  wilderness  as  the  only 
places  where  this  ideal  can  be  safely  and  speedily  at- 
tained. To  live  among  men,  and  thus  to  be  sub- 
jected to  corroding  cares  and  to  the  swaying  passions 
of  human  society,  renders  the  attainment  of  beati- 
fication impossible.  Under  these  circumstances  the 
soul  finds  no  way  of  emancipation.  Therefore  the 
watchword  of  the  Hindu  is,  -'flee  from  the  world 
rather  than  overcome  it."  For  the  attainment  of 
those  qualities  which  ensure  final  repose  he  immures 
himself  in  a  mutt  or  he  flees  into  the  forest  where, 
apart  from  men,  he  gives  himself  to  self-mortification 
and  meditation  that  he  may  speedily  find  the  desired 


I20         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

release.  At  the  root  of  this  idea,  as  its  animating 
motive,  lies  the  worthy  ambition  of  living  a  better 
life  than  the  environments  of  a  corrupt  society 
favour.  And  with  this  desire  is  coupled  the  idea 
that  a  full  rounded  life  and  a  perfected  character  are 
not  only  possible  in  the  solitude  of  a  wilderness  but 
are  nowhere  else  attainable.  And  thus  it  is,  with 
many,  a  silent  acknowledgment  of  failure  and  of  the 
belief  that  in  the  rush  and  struggle  of  public  life 
a  godly,  heavenly-minded  character  is  impossible. 
According  to  the  Hindu  conception,  a  man  may  be 
successful  in  business  matters,  but  he  cannot  be  holy 
or  fit  for  the  highest  communion  with  God  unless  he 
spend  his  time  in  separation  from  all  his  kind. 
Therefore  the  so-called  pious  and  holy  men  of  that 
land  are  ascetics.  They  eschew  human  society  and 
seek  to  renounce  all  human  good  and  every  earthly 
ambition. 

With  this  purpose,  ostensibly,  in  view  there  are,  as 
we  saw,  about  5,500,000  men  in  India  who  have 
given  up  all  earthly  employment,  who  live  apart  as 
ascetics  and  spend  their  time  in  roaming  around  the 
country  as  religious  mendicants.  These  people  are, 
in  the  main,  doubtless  possessed  of  the  laudable  am- 
bition to  be  holy  and  to  prepare  themselves  for  union 
with  Brahm.  And  yet,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  they  are 
the  most  pestilential  in  their  morals  of  all  the  people 
of  the  land.  Many  of  them,  at  the  same  time,  both 
regard  themselves  and  are  regarded  by  their  co-relig- 
ionists as  the  acme  of  piety.  Nevertheless,  they 
daily  trample  under  foot  every  command  of  the 
decalogue.  It  is  true  that  a  few  of  them  are  differ- 
ent from  the  mass,  and  genuinely  seek  the  higher  life 


The  TWO  FAITHS  IN  INDIA    121 

for  the  cultivation  of  whiichi  they  have  separated 
themselves.  But  into  their  ideal  of  life  altruism 
hardly  enters  at  all.  It  is  not  to  do  good  unto  others, 
but  to  escape  contamination  from  others  which  is 
the  concern  of  the  Hindu  devotee.  At  the  basis  of 
his  higher  aspirations  concern  for  self  is  supreme, 
thoughts  of  others  are  absent. 

A  notable  illustration  of  a  high  realization  of  the 
Eastern  ideal  we  see  in  the  famous  Hindu  ascetic 
Swamiji  Bhaskara  Nanda  Sarasvati,  of  Benares,  who 
recently  died  and  to  whom  Dr.  Fairbairn  has  referred 
so  cordially.  For  many  years  he  had  given  himself 
to  devotion  and  meditation.  He  had  subdued  the 
body  by  the  rigours  of  asceticism  and  had  attained 
preeminence  in  self-restraint  and  in  the  highest  wis- 
dom of  yoga  culture.  He  had  therefore  retired  from 
the  world,  spurned  all  its  allurements,  denied  all  its 
claims  and  devoted  himself  exclusively  to  thought 
and  meditation.  Thus  immured  within  temple  walls 
in  the  great  city  of  Benares  he  was  utterly  oblivious 
to  the  sin  and  sorrow  of  the  swarming  multitudes  of 
that  city  and  did  nought  to  relieve  the  suffering,  or 
to  improve  the  lives,  of  his  fellow-beings.  He  died, 
and  over  his  remains  has  been  erected  a  shrine  to 
which  the  thousands  go  for  worship  and  for  inspira- 
tion to  attain  unto  that  ideal  of  life  which  they  be- 
lieve him  to  have  realized. 

This  ideal  has,  for  centuries,  taken  possession  of 
the  Hindu  mind,  and  never  before  did  it  rule  with 
more  absolute  sway  than  it  does  at  present. 

Another  ideal  of  life  with  the  Hindu  is  the  so-called 
**path  of  works."  At  present  this  term  is  synony- 
mous with  a  life  of  ceremonialism.     In  modern  par- 


122         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

lance  ''works"  means  to  the  Hindu,  ceremonial  ob- 
servance. His  life  is  hedged  in  on  all  sides  by  a  host 
of  ceremonies  and  is  permeated  through  and  through 
with  a  most  complicated  ritual.  There  is  nothing  in 
the  life  of  a  Hindu  devotee,  whether  it  be  eating, 
sleeping,  bathing  or  travelling,  which  is  not  relig- 
iously prescribed  both  as  to  time  and  method.  And 
utterly  regardless  of  the  significance  of  these  rites  or 
the  appropriateness  of  them  to  his  life,  he  deems 
their  observance  as  essential  to  his  salvation  and  finds 
in  their  daily  keeping  the  highest  satisfaction  and 
completest  assurance  of  his  spiritual  progress. 

The  Hindu  is  no  rationalist  in  his  religion.  He 
obeys  implicitly,  and  without  question,  the  ritual  of 
his  ancestors  and  finds  no  interest  in  the  scrutiny  or 
analysis  of  them. 

So,  to  the  ordinary  Hindu,  especially  to  him  to 
whom  the  way  of  meditation  in  the  wilderness  seems 
impossible,  ceremonialism  becomes  a  matter  of  su- 
preme concern.  No  other  religion  has  furnished  to 
its  followers  a  more  elaborate  and  pervasive  system 
of  observances  than  this.  These  rites  exercise  their 
influence  upon  the  mind  and  are  wielding  today  a 
most  potent  influence  upon  Hindu  character.  A  man 
may  think  nothing  of,  nor  have  any  ambition  to  at- 
tain unto,  the  spiritual  aspect  of  his  faith;  he  may 
give  no  time  whatever  to  any  of  its  teachings  or  spir- 
itual instruction;  but  if  he  maintain  its  ritual  with 
ordinary  care  he  flatters  himself  with  the  thought 
that  he  has  attained  a  perfection  corresponding  to  his 
estate. 

Moreover,  the  Hindu  is  a  thorough  fatalist.  He 
believes  that  his  destiny  is  "written  upon  the  fore- 


rhe  TWO  FAITHS  IN  INDIA    123 

head."  Nothing  which  he  may  do  can  affect  this 
destiny.  Nor  does  it  seem  to  be  a  part  of  the  divine 
purpose.  So  far  as  he  is  concerned  it  is  an  irrevo- 
cable fate.  This  behef  manifests  itself  largely  in  his 
life  and  conduct.  It  is  one  of  the  inconsistencies  of 
the  Hindu's  thinking  that  he,  at  the  same  time,  wor- 
ships a  tribal  god  in  whose  hands  he  believes  his 
affairs  to  be,  and  through  whom  prosperity  can  flow 
into  his  life  for  time  and  eternity;  and  yet  he  holds, 
with  equal,  yea  with  greater,  persistence,  the  law  of 
Karma,  that  is,  the  law  of  works,  according  to 
which  law  alone  future  life,  both  to  himself  and  to 
all  men,  must  be  wrought  out  even  to  the  last  detail. 
It  is  strange  that  a  man  whose  pantheon  is  so 
crowded  as  that  of  the  Hindu,  and  who  believes  in 
such  constant  divine  guidance  and  interference, 
should,  also,  at  the  same  time,  maintain  a  theory  of 
life  which  practically  dispenses  with  all  divine  action 
and  makes  human  life  the  product  of  a  blind  and 
grinding  fate.  Nothing  is  more  marked  as  a  charac- 
teristic of  Hindu  thought  today  than  a  possession  by 
the  people  of  these  mutually  conflicting  and  contra- 
dictory views  of  life. 

{c)  Looking  at  the  Hindu  from  a  social  standpoint 
we  see  him  largely  affected  by  the  caste  sytem.  Not 
only  is  his  life  in  bondage  to  this  system,  his  view  of 
life,  too,  is  thoroughly  coloured  by  his  caste  sen- 
timents. 

Just  as  ceremonialism  covers  all  his  personal  life, 
even  so  caste  observance  defines  for  him  all  his  social 
relations.  There  is  not  a  tie  or  an  influence  which 
binds  man  to  man  that  is  not,  to  the  Hindu,  a  part 
of  the  great  and  all-embracing  caste  system.     So  all- 


124         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

pervasive  is  this  social  tyranny  that  a  man  dare  not 
withstand  it;  yea,  more,  he  has  learned  to  look  at  it 
as  the  prime  necessity  of  his  social  being  and  there- 
fore invariably  regards  it  as  the  highest  good.  He 
may  indeed  believe  that,  in  the  abstract,  caste  is  an 
evil  and  that  it  has  been  a  curse  to  the  people  of  the 
land.  But  he  nevertheless  maintains  that,  as  it  is  an 
ancient  part,  and  a  most  important  part,  of  his  ances- 
tral faith,  it  must  be  submitted  to  in  all  obedience 
and  regarded  as  the  ideal  of  life. 

The  Bhagavad-Gita  is  regarded  today  not  only  as 
the  gem  of  all  Hindu  literature;  it  is  also  held  up  by 
educated  Hindus  as  the  highest  authority  among  their 
Shastras.  Concerning  caste  duties  this  "Divine 
Song"  speaks  as  follows: 

«  Better  to  do  the  duty  of  one's  caste, 
Though  bad  and  ill-performed  and  fraught  with  evil, 
Than  undertake  the  business  of  another, 
However  good  it  be.     For  better  far 
Abandon  life  at  once  than  not  fulfill 
One's  own  appointed  work ;  another's  duty 
Brings  danger  to  the  man  who  meddles  with  it. 
Perfection  is  alone  attained  by  him 
Who  swerves  not  from  the  business  of  his  caste." 

Therefore  the  Hindu  has  come  to  regard  caste  ob- 
servance as  the  supreme  claim  of  his  faith.  As  we 
have  seen,  a  man  may  believe  or  disbelieve  any  doc- 
trine he  please;  that  does  not  affect  his  status  as  a 
Hindu  so  long  as  he  is  loyal  to  caste  rules  and  ob- 
servances. As  one  has  aptly  remarked,  the  seat  of 
other  religions  may  be  in  the  mind;  the  seat  of  Hin- 
duism is  preeminently  in  the  stomach.     It  is  not 


T:he  TWO  FAITHS  IN  INDIA    125 

what  he  thinks  but  what  and  how  and  with  whom 
he  eats  that  gives  him  his  religious  status. 

The  Hindu  regards  himself  as  socially  devoid  of 
any  right  of  initiative  and  choice;  he  has  no  will  of 
his  own.  His  social  conscience  is  in  the  keeping  of 
his  caste.  This  has  gained  its  rules  from  the  past 
and  exercises  no  discretion  or  judgment  of  its  own 
in  the  social  direction  of  its  members;  but  it  insists 
upon  implicit  obedience,  by  every  one,  to  past  cus- 
toms which  have  crystallized  into  irrevocable  laws. 
And  to  these  laws  the  Hindu  is  always  and  every- 
where a  willing  and  an  abject  slave.  To  violate  any 
of  them  is,  he  well  knows,  to  be  recreant  to  his 
faith  and  to  be  an  outcaste  among  his  people. 

{d)  The  Hindu  is  not  strong  in  character,  as  West- 
erners regard  strength.  As  we  have  seen,  his  religion 
is  not  favourable  to  the  highest  development  of  con- 
science. Hence,  sincerity  and  truthfulness  are  not 
among  his  strong  points.  Not  only  does  pantheism 
undermine  conscience,  the  example  of  the  most 
prominent  gods  of  the  Hindu  pantheon,  leads  men  to 
prevaricate  and  encourages  all  forms  of  duplicity. 
Under  these  circumstances  it  were  strange  if  the 
Hindu  were  conspicuous  in  honesty  and  in  loyalty  to 
the  truth.  And  in  like  manner  he  is  wanting  largely 
in  those  convictions  which,  in  the  West,  are  so  in- 
separably associated  with  earnestness,  integrity  and 
lofty  purpose.  If,  to  the  Hindu  devotee,  religion  is 
not  a  system  of  truth  to  be  believed  and  loyally  fol- 
lowed, but  a  series  of  ceremonies  to  be  observed  and 
of  caste  rules  to  be  obeyed,  then  loyalty  to  truth 
becomes  a  very  secondary  matter  and  integrity  of 
mind  will  be  regarded  by  him  as  of  no  great  moment. 


126         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

Therefore  it  is  that  hollowness  is  so  often  found  at 
the  core  of  their  life.  Lying  and  stealing  are  all  but 
universal.  It  is  said  in  our  District  in  South  India 
that  the  regular  price  of  a  court  witness  is  two  annas 
(four  cents);  and  he  stands  ready  to  perjure  himself 
to  any  extent  for  this  paltry  sum.  The  ordinary 
Hindu  seems  too  often  to  have  a  predilection  for 
falsehood  and  uses  truth  with  rare  economy!  There, 
dishonesty  and  petty  larceny  are  foibles  too  fre- 
quently condoned  because  too  generally  practiced. 
Even  among  the  higher  classes — the  cultured  and 
elite — open-faced  and  open-handed  frankness  and 
sincerity  are  too  rare.  Hypocrisy  and  duplicity  are 
too  often  cultivated  as  a  fine  art.  It  seems  to  be  the 
pride  and  pleasure  of  an  Oriental  to  conceal  his  mind 
and  purpose  and  to  say  and  do  things  by  the  greatest 
indirection  possible. 

India  has  been  extolled  as  a  land  where  there  is  no 
profanity.  This  is  true  and  she  should  have  the 
credit  for  this  abstinence.  And  one  never  feels  like 
giving  her  this  credit  more  than  when  he  returns 
from  that  country  to  this  and  is  compelled  to  endure 
the  coarse  profanity  which  pervades  our  streets  as  a 
terrible  stench. 

Yet  one  can  hardly  see  how  the  Hindu  could  find 
interest  in,  and  a  strong  grip  upon,  profanity,  so  long 
as  the  gods  of  his  pantheon  have  so  little  of  his  re- 
spect and  enter  so  rarely  into  the  serious  compacts  of 
his  life.  Moreover  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that 
obscenity  fulfills  in  India  the  function  of  profanity  in 
the  West.  The  bursts  of  passion  which  find  ex- 
pression here  through  taking  the  name  of  God  in  vain 
gain  utterance  there  in  language  unspeakably  bad  of 


rhe  TWO  FAITHS  IN  INDIA    127 

the  other  kind.  And  this  is  only  a  part  of  the  larger 
subject  of  the  prevalence  of  social  immorality  in 
India— an  evil  which  is  largely  fostered  under  the 
protection  of  the  religion  of  the  land.  When  Lord 
Dalhousie,  the  Viceroy  of  India,  was  considering  ^an 
act  for  the  suppression  of  obscenity  in  the  country, 
he  was  compelled  by  Hindu  sentiment  to  exempt  all 
temples  and  religious  emblems  from  the  operation  of 
the  act!  What  better  commentary  could  one  desire 
upon  the  source  and  prevalence  of  this  vice  in  that 
land  }  When  such  an  evil  is  intrenched  behind  the 
religion  of  the  people  and  is  symbolized  and  fostered 
by  its  emblems  and  ceremonies — when  tasies,  or 
women  dedicated  to  the  Hindu  gods  and  temple 
worship  (there  are  12,000  of  these  in  South  India 
alone),  constitute  the  public  characters  of  the  land- 
then  the  hope  for  the  purification  of  life  is  at  the 
lowest  ebb. 

It  is  also  very  rare  that  one  finds  a  Hindu  whose 
convictions  and  loyalty  to  certain  beliefs  are  such  that 
he  is  willing  to  suffer  in  their  behalf.  That  mascu- 
line vigour  and  manly  persistence  under  difficulty  in 
maintaining  what  he  believes  to  be  right  and  true  is 
not  germane  to  the  Hindu  character. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  Hindu  is  strong  in  the  so- 
called  passive  virtues.  In  harmony  with  his  religious 
beliefs,  patience  and  meekness  and  endurance  of  evil 
have  become  second  nature  to  him.  This  side  of  his 
character  has,  indeed,  received  undue  emphasis 
during  the  many  centuries  of  his  history.  He  can- 
not understand  the  rush  and  impatience,  the  push 
and  aggressiveness  of  the  Westerner  any  more  than 
he  of  the  West  can  understand  the  Hindu's  cool, 


128         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

quiet,  patient,  bearing  under  most  trying  and  ad- 
verse circumstances.  He  has  a  large  lesson  to  teach 
us  in  the  art  of  self-control  and  in  the  ability  to 
endure  with  complacency  evils  which  cannot  be 
remedied. 

Thus  as  we  look  at  the  Hindu  from  the  various 
standpoints  of  life  and  character  we  see  how  strange 
a  compound  he  is,  and  how  unlike  the  man  of  the 
West  at  nearly  all  points  in  our  examination.  He  is 
preeminently  weak  where  we  are  strong,  and  he 
manifests  strength  where  we  seem  to  need  it  most. 
His  religion  has  developed  within  him  traits  and  tend- 
encies which,  through  these  many  centuries,  have 
wonderfully  wrought  in  his  life  and  character,  and 
have  largely  made  him  what  he  is  today. 

Moreover  all  this  enables  us  to  see  what  a  serious 
problem  Christianity  has  in  hand  in  India  today, 
namely  the  conversion  of  230,000,000  people  so  far 
removed  in  life  and  sentiment  from  those  who  have 
gone  to  preach  Christ  to  them.  Yea,  more,  we  have 
seen  what  mighty  influences  and  forces  Christianity 
has  to  overcome,  what  hosts  of  prejudices  to  destroy, 
before  she  can  lay  her  hand  in  power  upon  that 
great  land  and  claim  it  as  her  own. 

2.    Let  us  Now  Study  The  Native  Christian. 

The  Indian  Christian,  as  we  have  seen,  is  a  recent 
product,  so  far  as  Protestant  Christianity  is  con- 
cerned. And  yet  we  are  glad  to  witness  a  marked 
development  in  the  life  and  character  of  those  who 
are  connected  with  the  Protestant  missions.  It  is 
true  that  fully  one-half  of  the  Christian  community 
there  found  has  been  connected  with  our  faith  no 


The  TWO  FAITHS  IN  INDIA    129 

more  than  a  quarter  of  a  century.  But  as  we  com- 
pare these  recent  accessions  to  our  faith  with  those 
Christians  of  a  second,  third  and  fourth  generation 
we  are  much  encouraged  by  the  growth  in  Christian 
character  and  principle  which  is  taking  place.  I  have 
often  studied  these  differences  between  the  recent 
convert  and  the  Christian-born  member  of  the  com- 
munity. I  have  also  compared  those  of  the  second, 
with  those  of  the  third  and  fourth,  generation  of 
Christian  heritage;  and  I  have  been  much  encouraged 
to  see  that  our  faith  is  adding  to  its  power  over  the 
life  and  character  of  the  native  Christian  community 
as  the  years  and  generations  increase.  And  if  the 
work  continues,  with  the  present  insistence  and 
vigour,  it  will  not  take  many  generations  more  before 
Christianity  will  have  become  thoroughly  indigenous, 
because  it  will  have  developed  a  type  of  character  in 
that  land  fully  in  harmony  with  its  own  genius  and 
teaching. 

It  is  necessary,  however,  in  considering  this  ques- 
tion, that  we  remember  specially  that  the  antecedents 
and  the  environment  of  the  native  Christian  have 
been  entirely  Hindu.  His  ancestral  faith  has  coloured, 
and  must  colour,  largely  his  religious  preceptions  and 
conduct.  Let  it  not  be  thought  that,  when  a  man 
abandons  Hinduism  and  becomes  a  Christian,  he 
thereby,  once  and  for  all,  drives  out  of  his  mind  all 
those  prepossessions,  prejudices  and  superstitions 
which  he  has  inherited  from  the  past.  It  will  take  a 
long  time  for  him  to  separate  himself  from  these  and 
their  influence.  Many  of  them  will  probably  cling 
to  him  during  his  whole  life.  It  is  as  much  as  we 
can  hope  that  Christian  truth  will  take  increasing 


I30         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

possession  of  his  mind  and  gradually  supplant  the 
old  and  unworthy  beliefs  of  Hinduism. 

There  are  moreover  certain  elements  of  truth  in 
that  old  faith  which  we  do  not  care  to  eliminate  from 
his  mental  furnishing,  but  which  must  find  new  ad- 
justment and  be  properly  located  in  the  new  religion 
which  he  has  adopted. 

It  should  also  be  remembered  and  made  prominent 
in  our  consideration  of  this  subject  that  the  people  of 
India  are  an  Oriental  people  and  are  the  children  of 
the  tropics  and,  as  such,  will  always  remain  and 
must  remain  very  different  from  us  of  the  Northwest. 
Their  climatic  and  meteorological  conditions,  their 
outer,  physical  life,  their  social  customs  and  the 
trend  of  their  civilization,  have  always  been,  and  will 
continue  to  be,  far  removed  from  our  own.  Nothing 
could  be  more  fatal  to  our  success  in  our  effort  for 
the  conversion  of  India  than  the  idea  that  we  must  in 
every  respect  mold  them  after  the  pattern  of  Western 
life  and  habits.  A  large  portion  of  their  life  is  the 
result  of  the  conditions  which  I  have  mentioned  and 
must  largely  remain  unchanged;  and  it  would  be 
folly  for  the  missionary  to  regard  these  as  a  part  of 
the  faith  to  be  supplanted,  and  to  teach  that  western 
social  customs  are  inseparable  from  Christianity  and 
must  be  accepted  by  the  Orient  with  our  faith.  The 
Christian  of  India  will  always  be,  and  it  is  well  that 
he  should  be,  differentiated  from  the  Anglo-Saxon 
Christian. 

It  should  also  be  remembered  that  the  people  of 
India,  at  least  the  masses,  are  low  in  civilization.  It 
should  not  be  expected  that  those  who  are  in  that 
low  estate,  when  they  become  Christians,  will  leap 


The  TWO  FAITHS  IN  INDIA    131 

with  one  bound  into  the  full  possession  of  a  high 
civilization  and  be  clothed  upon  with  some  of  those 
beauties  of  western  life  and  character  which  we 
inevitably  associate  with  the  term,  "A  Christian 
Gentleman."  They,  indeed,  become  truly  and 
sincerely  the  disciples  of  Christ;  but  they  will,  at  the 
same  time,  manifest  some  of  the  crudities  and  weak- 
nesses of  the  low  social  grade  of  which  they  have 
been  and  still  remain  a  part.  They  should  not  be 
judged  by  standards  Western  or  of  a  high  civilization. 

Looking,  then,  at  the  native  Christian  of  India  let 
us  have  regard  to  his  condition  socially,  morally, 
religiously  and  spiritually. 

{a)  Studying  this  product  of  the  Christian  faith  in 
that  land  from  a  social  standpoint  we  find  encourage- 
ment. He  differs  from  his  Hindu  neighbour  by  a 
growing  freedom  from  the  trammels  of  caste.  He 
feels,  in  his  best  moments,  that  caste  has  been  and 
continues  to  be  the  greatest  curse  of  the  land,  that  he 
has  been  emancipated  from  it,  and  that  he  is  ambi- 
tious to  enjoy  the  liberty  wherewith  Christ  has  made 
him  free.  And  yet,  unfortunately,  he  does  not  re- 
main constantly  in  the  possession  of  this  sane  mind. 
The  roots  of  the  caste  system  have  reached  down 
into  the  lowest  depths  of  his  being.  Even  at  times 
when  he  believes  that  he  is  absolutely  independent 
of  caste  considerations,  there  is  in  him  a  blind 
persistence  which  clings  to  caste  bondage.  1  have 
often  felt  that  Hinduism  can  be  dispensed  with  by 
our  convert  with  vastly  more  ease  in  all  other  par- 
ticulars than  in  its  caste  feelings  and  affiliations. 
This  relic  of  the  past  clings  to  him  with  a  tenacity 
which  is  phenomenal  and  most  sad.     Though  every- 


132         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

thing  teaches  him  that  this  caste  system  is  the 
greatest  enemy  of  Christianity  and  will  prevent  any 
one  who  believes  and  practices  it  from  fully  imbibing 
the  spirit  of  Christ;  and  though  he  aspires  to  be  an 
earnest  and  an  efficient  Christian  and  to  love  all  his 
brethren,  this  remnant  of  Hinduism  in  his  heart  re- 
turns to  rob  him  of  the  joys  and  blessings  of  his 
Christian  birthright.  I  have  seen  this  frequently 
disfigure  what  would  otherwise  have  been  a  beauti- 
ful Christian  character.  I  have  witnessed  it  blast  the 
prospects  of  Christian  congregations  dooming  them 
to  stagnation  and  death.  I  have  known  it  to  palsy 
the  arm  and  deaden  the  heart  of  more  than  one 
Christian  worker. 

All  this  is  inevitable  when  we  remember  the 
mighty  influence  and  the  long  continued  dominance 
of  caste  in  that  land.  But  even  at  this  point,  where 
the  missionary  finds  the  greatest  discouragement, 
there  are  marked  signs  of  progress.  So  long  as  the 
missionary  fought  this  evil  alone  there  was  little  hope 
of  success.  But,  during  the  last  few  years,  the  con- 
science of  the  native  Christian  Church  itself  has  been 
roused  on  this  question.  The  Indian  Christian  to- 
day, as  never  before,  has  the  conviction  that  this 
caste  evil  saps  the  spiritual  life  of  every  member  and 
of  every  church  which  entertains  it,  and  that  it  is  his 
supreme  duty  to  fight  it  steadily  in  his  own  heart, 
home  and  church.  And  there  is  an  increasing 
number,  especially  of  the  young  Christians,  who  are 
pledging  themselves  to  an  unceasing  warfare  against 
the  demon  caste.  Christians  are  also  organizing  them- 
selves  into  Caste  Suppression  Societies.  All  this  is 
highly  encouraging,  but  needs  large  furtherance  and 


the  TWO  FAITHS  IN  INDIA    133 

development  before  the  native  Christian  can  be  said 
to  be  freed  from  this  most  subtle  curse  of  the  ances- 
tral faith., 

The  old  Hindu  Joint  Family  System  is  the  foster- 
mother  of  the  caste  idea,  and  it  is  cheering  to  see 
native  Christians  increasingly  abandoning  that  system 
for  the  Western  idea  of  home  which  encourages 
thrift,  independence  and  liberty  among  the  various 
members  of  a  family  and  clan. 

In  India,  for  many  years  to  come,  this  blight  of 
social  narrowness,  exclusiveness  and  divisiveness 
will  affect  more  or  less  the  native  Christian  character 
and  give  colour  to  the  native  Christian  Church.  For 
centuries  it  may  prove  the  weak  spot  of  Indian 
Christianity. 

(b)  Morally,  the  native  Christian  develops  slowly. 
One  writer  has  recently  claimed  that  the  Christian  of 
India  manifests  little,  if  any,  preeminence  over  the 
Hindu,  in  this  respect.  This  is  not  true.  He  is  cer- 
tainly moving  forward  and  upward  morally.  But  it 
should  be  remembered  that  moral  character  is  not  one 
of  the  first  results  of  Christian  conquest  among  such 
a  people.  It  is  rather  the  highest  and  last  fruit  upon 
the  tree  of  Christian  life.  It  should  not  be  forgotten 
that  what  we  regard  in  the  West  as  the  high  moral 
traits  of  a  Christian  gentleman  are  the  product  of 
more  than  1,000  years  of  Christian  living. 

The  native  Christian  manifests,  in  this  respect,  the 
weakness  of  his  antecedents  and  his  environment. 
When  we  remember  that  weakness  of  character  to 
which  we  have  referred  as  belonging  to  the  Hindu  it 
is  not  surprising  that  the  native  Christian,  who  is 
daily  surrounded  by  men  of  that  faith  and  who  im- 


134         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

bibes  the  atmosphere  of  that  religion,  should  largely 
be  affected  by  the  same  evil.  A  few  years  ago  an 
English  barrister  complained  to  me  of  certain  Chris- 
tian witnesses  who  had  given  evidence  in  a  case 
recently  conducted  by  him  in  Madura.  *M  hate  to 
have  your  Christians  as  witnesses  in  any  of  my 
cases,"  he  says;  ''for  whenever  they  venture  to  give 
false  evidence  they  instantly  falter  and  stumble  and 
are  caught  by  the  opposing  counsel.  A  Hindu,  when 
he  gives  false  evidence,  will  tell  a  straight  and  a 
plausible  story.  But  your  Christians  are  too  much 
affected  by  twinges  of  conscience."  What  was  em- 
barrassing and  annoying  to  him  was  encouraging  to 
me!  That  our  Christians  should  occasionally  give 
false  evidence  did  not  surprise  me;  but  that  they,  in 
this  matter,  should  be  differentiated,  by  this  disinter- 
ested observer,  from  Hindu  witnesses  is  a  reliable 
testimony  in  favour  of  their  growing  veracity. 

Among  the  higher  class  of  native  Christians,  which 
is  annually  increasing  in  number,  there  is  marked  im- 
provement in  character.  Especially  among  mission 
agents  do  we  have  opportunity  to  witness  this  de- 
velopment. They  are  growing  in  sincerity  and  relia- 
bility. The  missionary  is  learning,  with  increasing 
pleasure,  to  place  confidence  in  their  veracity.  And 
yet,  we  must  mourn  that  moral  progress  among  our 
people,  both  high  and  low,  is  not  more  rapid  and 
satisfying. 

Social  immorality,  as  we  have  seen,  is  very  preva- 
lent in  that  tropical  country.  It  is  natural  that  this 
should  annoy  and  worry  us  greatly  among  our  native 
Christians.  It  is  a  sad  fact  that  more  of  our  mission 
agents  are  dismissed  on  account  of  this  sin  than  any 


the  TWO  FAITHS  IN  INDIA    135 

other.  Hindu  society  is  not  only  largely  demoralized 
by  this  evil,  there  is  also  no  public  sentiment  against 
it.  But,  under  the  influence  of  a  growing  sentiment 
in  behalf  of  chastity  and  purity,  the  evil  is  gradually 
diminishing  among  our  native  Christians. 

One  source  of  moral  depravity  in  Hindu  society  is 
the  prevalent  belief  among  them  that  there  is  no 
necessary  connection  between  piety  and  morality. 
Their  faith  maintains  that  a  man  may  be  an  ardent 
and  worthy  devotee,  and  at  the  same  time  trample 
under  foot  every  part  of  the  decalogue.  Indeed  the 
immorality  of  their  religious  ascetics  is  as  noticeable 
as  their  profession  of  piety.  Nobody  there  questions 
their  lofty  faith,  their  deep  piety,  their  supreme  devo- 
tion to  their  gods;  nor  will  any  one  hesitate  for  one 
moment  to  charge  them  with  every  vice  and  sin  in 
the  human  catalogue.  Such  is  the  Hindu  mind  that 
it  can  and  does  believe  that  these,  to  us,  inseparable 
elements  of  a  noble  life,  can  be  severed  and  found 
absolutely  apart.  In  India,  today,  the  moral  people 
are  largely  the  non-religious;  while  the  ostentatiously 
religious  are  the  publicly  immoral  ones. 

It  will  take  a  long  time  for  this  fundamental  and 
universally  prevailing  error  to  lose  its  grip  upon  our 
Christian  people  in  that  land.  We  find,  not  infre- 
quently, in  the  Christian  community,  men  and 
women  living  in  unrighteousness  and  at  the  same 
time  believing  that  it  will  be  overlooked  in  the  Divine 
account  because  of  their  zeal  in  Christian  advocacy  or 
their  offering  for  the  Christian  cause.  Perhaps  this 
land  of  the  West  also  is  not  free  from  such  a  delu- 
sion! We  endeavour  to  teach  them,  in  the  language 
of   the  Apostle   Paul  (i   Tim.  3:9),   "to  hold  the 


136         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

mystery  of  the  faith  in  a  pure  conscience";  and  we 
emphasize  the  supreme  truth  that  faith  and  con- 
science, piety  and  morality  are  one  and  inseparable. 

(c)  Religiously y  the  native  Christian  is  slowly  shak- 
ing ofif  the  clinging  brood  of  superstitions  which  he 
inherited  from  Hinduism.  Our  most  recent  converts 
have  often  a  tenacious  belief  in  the  efficacy  of  some 
of  those  childish  superstitions  and  charms  which 
were  largely  their  main  stay  in  their  ancestral  religion. 
In  most  cases  these  are  not  a  matter  of  faith  so  much 
as  of  inheritance  which  have  become  more  than  a 
second  nature  to  them.  Idolatry  may  be  abandoned, 
belief  in  Hinduism  as  a  saving  faith  may  be  thrown 
to  the  winds,  Hindu  ritual  may  lose  its  charm;  but 
the  many  little  superstitions  which  are  connected 
with  private  life  and  social  customs  have  still  a  quiet 
influence  and  a  lingering  power  over  them.  These 
largely  belong  to  the  life  of  those  who  have  recently 
accepted  the  Christian  faith.  It  may  be  that  some  of 
them  will  never  make  that  progress  in  life  which  will 
lift  them  entirely  above  some  of  these  Hindu  super- 
stitions. But  the  great  majority  of  native  Christians 
today  have  religiously  had  no  connection  whatever 
with  Hinduism  and  have  entirely  substituted  Chris- 
tian rites  and  observances  for  those  of  the  Hindu 
religion.  And  they  apparently  have  large  satisfaction 
in  them.  The  old  Hindu  idea  of  the  supreme  value 
of  asceticism  is  largely  yielding  to  a  Christian  altru- 
ism which  abandons  self-centred,  self-seeking,  ac- 
tivity in  favour  of  loving  sympathy  for,  and  an 
endeavour  to  do  good  to,  men. 

We  also  notice  that  among  them  the  idea  of  the 
efficacy  of  certain  forms  and  ceremonies  is  lessening 


The  TWO  FAITHS  IN  INDIA    137 

in  favour  of  a  conviction  of  the  power  of  the  inner  life 
of  faith. 

And  yet  it  should  be  constantly  kept  in  mind  that 
ceremony  and  ritual  must  always  find  a  larger  place 
in  the  religious  life  of  India  than  in  that  of  the  United 
States.  The  inhabitant  of  India  is  tropical  and  poetic 
in  temperament.  He  beholds  things,  and  appreciates 
and  appropriates  spiritual  blessings,  more  through 
the  help  of  forms  and  ceremonies  than  does  the  man 
of  the  West.  A  rite  appeals  to  his  nature  more 
strongly  and  lends  to  him  greater  facility  in  getting 
at  its  underlying  truth  and  antitype  than  it  does  to 
us.  Indeed  it  is  his  nature  to  look  at  Christian  truth 
through  the  eyes  of  a  poet;  and  ceremonies  conse- 
quently convey  to  him  the  largest  significance  and 
are  more  revealing  of  the  spirit  within.  We  seek 
divine  truth  and  spiritual  blessings  more  directly  than 
he.  It  would  be  therefore  a  mistake  for  us  to  expect 
that  practical,  unpoetic  mind  of  ours  in  the  Oriental, 
or  to  present  religious  truth  to  him  in  its  nakedness, 
unadorned  and  unenforced  by  rite  and  ritual.  It  has 
been,  and,  to  some  extent,  continues  to  be  the  fault 
of  our  Congregational  Missions  in  India  that  they  try 
to  lift  the  native  Christian  to  those  dry,  unadorned, 
simple  forms  of  religious  service  which  indeed  satisfy 
the  missionaries,  but  which  ignore  the  great  differ- 
ence of  nature  and  temperament  between  themselves 
and  the  converts.  It  should  be  remembered  that  in 
India  people  think  vocally.  Even  as  they  must  and 
do  read  aloud  in  order  to  read  intelligently,  so  must 
they  worship  aloud  in  order  to  worship  feelingly  and 
thoughtfully.  Hence  the  wisdom  and  urgency  for 
them  of  a  ritual  and  a  responsive  service. 


138         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

(d)  Spiritually,  the  Indian  Christian  is  slowly  and 
surely  developing  on  definite  lines  of  his  own. 

The  simplicity  of  his  faith  is  beautiful.  He  has 
none  of  those  questions  of  doubt  or  misgivings  of 
unbelief  which  are  so  prevalent  in  the  West.  He 
takes  the  Bible  in  all  fullness  of  acceptance.  His 
prayers  are  not  crossed  and  frustrated  by  any  ration- 
alistic theories,  but  have  the  simplicity  of  childish 
directness,  filial  trust  and  full  expectancy.  Nothing 
has  touched  me  more  in  my  contact  with  native 
Christians  than  to  feel  the  directness,  simplicity,  un- 
questioning trustfulness  of  their  prayers  even  in  times 
of  greatest  adversity. 

The  native  Christian  possesses  a  mystic  tempera- 
ment. The  inhabitants  of  that  land,  through  many 
centuries  of  training,  have  become  natural  mystics  in 
religion.  This  national  heritage  the  native  Christian 
retains;  and  properly  chastened  and  directed  by 
Christian  truth  and  faith  it  will  add  depth,  beauty 
and  power  to  his  religious  life.  Under  these  condi- 
tions I  shall  have  no  fear  of  mysticism  in  the  Chris- 
tian Church  in  India.  Deep  spirituality  and  a  yearn- 
ing after  the  hidden  things  of  religion  is  more  natural 
to  the  East  than  to  the  West.  The  West  is  practical 
and  worldly;  the  East  is  mystical  and  other-worldly. 
The  native  Christian,  at  his  best,  is  manifesting  some 
of  this  spiritual  power.  He  takes  naturally  to  the 
Pauline  emphasis  upon  the  life  ''hid  with  Christ  in 
God,"  and  to  the  mystic  union  which  exists  between 
Christ  and  His  own. 

It  is  here  that  the  native  Church  in  India  is,  1  be- 
lieve, to  show  an  inspiring  example  to  the  Church  of 
the  West.     If  the  Christian  of  India  is  not  to  be  as 


The  TWO  FAITHS  IN  INDIA    139 

practical  or  indeed  as  spiritually  sane  as  his  brother 
of  the  West,  he  will  probably  illustrate  more  of  the 
hidden  mysteries  and  power  of  the  spiritual  life.  In 
this  respect  the  spiritual  power  of  the  East  and  that 
of  the  West  will  be,  in  their  separate  emphasis,  mu- 
tually complementary. 

The  Indian  Christian,  true  to  his  native  tempera- 
ment, is  and  will  continue  to  be  strong  in  the  so- 
called  passive  virtues,  and  weak  in  the  positive  or 
aggressive  ones.  Patience,  meekness,  gentleness,  en- 
durance— these  are  the  graces  which  preeminently 
adorn  him  and  which  give  colour  and  shape  to  his 
religious  character.  Here,  again,  his  life  will  be  very 
different  from  that  life  which  has  characterized,  thus 
far,  the  Western  Christian.  The  masculine  virtues 
of  assertion,  boldness,  aggressiveness  have  charac- 
terized the  West.  We  have  been  strong  and  continue 
strong  in  that  aspect  of  our  faith  which  we  associate 
with  the  words  assertion  and  attack.  The  West  has, 
true  to  its  environment  and  training,  developed 
Christian  character  mostly,  I  will  not  say  exclusively, 
on  the  positive  side  of  life.  The  equally  important 
passive  virtues  we  of  the  West  have  much  neglected 
if  not  despised  as  weakness.  The  East  is  even  to- 
day manifesting  the  blessedness,  and  the  native 
Christian  will  increasingly  illustrate,  the  beauty  and 
potency,  of  the  passive  virtues — of  the  spiritual  ele- 
ment of  endurance  and  non-resistance.  He  will 
show  to  us  that  a  true  and  perfected  character — a 
character  molded  after  that  of  the  divine  Exemplar — 
must  have  also,  and  with  equal  emphasis,  the  sweet 
and  feminine  passive  graces  of  life  as  an  essential 
element.     In  India  today  the  Anglo-Saxon  is  wont 


I40         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

to  speak  with  contempt  of  "  The  mild  Hindu."  That 
mildness  which  we  are  too  apt  to  despise  contains 
the  germs  of  that  half  of  Christian  character  which 
is  too  largely  wanting  in  the  spiritual  life  of  the 
Anglo-Saxon  and  which  the  Christian  Church  of 
India  will  increasingly  illustrate  and  gradually  seek  to 
respect,  honour,  and  ultimately,  to  adopt. 

Thus,  speaking  broadly  of  the  native  Christian  of 
India  today  we  find  him  almost  as  much  a  product 
of  heredity  and  environment  as  he  is  of  Christianity. 
He  holds  out  Christ  before  himself  as  his  ideal  of  life, 
and  His  words  as  the  all-satisfying  truth.  He  seeks 
in  His  redeeming  work  rest  and  salvation  of  soul; 
but  many  of  the  deepest  yearnings  of  his  heart 
come  to  him  through  old  channels  worn  out  by  his 
ancestral  faith.  Hinduism  gives  more  or  less  of 
colouring  to  his  religious  thought  and  aspirations;  and 
not  a  few  of  its  forms  and  ceremonies  are  retained, 
but  filled  with  a  new  Christian  content,  and  are  util- 
ized to  aid  in  the  development  of  Christian  life. 
Even  as  the  Jews  of  old  entered  into  possession  and 
appreciation  of  Christian  life  through  Jewish  rites 
and  ceremonies,  so  do  native  converts  enter  Christian 
life  through  Hindu  forms  today.  From  the  neces- 
sity of  their  thought  and  being  they  utilize  not  a  few 
of  the  processes  of  the  old,  in  order  to  acquire  and 
enjoy  the  blessings  of  the  new,  faith.  This  cannot 
be  avoided  nor  do  we  desire  that  it  should  be 
avoided. 

The  study  of  the  Indian  Christian  character  in  its 
peculiarities  and  tendencies  is  of  importance,  be- 
cause, as  I  have  said  above,  I  believe  it  is  to  affect 
our  conceptions  of  life  in  the  West.     At  the  present 


The  TWO  FAITHS  IN  INDIA    141 

time  not  a  few  of  the  religious  vagaries  which  infest 
our  land  such  as  Christian  Science  and  Theosophy, 
have  chiefly  come  to  us  from  India.  At  least,  what- 
ever of  philosophy  they  may  possess,  and  all  of  the 
occultism  and  mysticism  which  they  court  and  mag- 
nify, are  thoroughly  Eastern  and  Indian.  And  from 
the  popularity  of  such  movements  in  this  land  it 
would  seem  as  if  the  boast  of  some  men  that  Hindu 
thought  is  invading  the  West  is  partially  true.  But 
the  invasion  which  I  desire  and  expect,  in  the  not 
distant  future,  is  the  invasion  of  an  Oriental  Chris- 
tian  thought.  Christian  life  and  Christian  character. 
This  will  come  in  its  time  as  truly  as,  and  much 
more  fully  than,  the  other  has  come,  and  it  will  do 
this  country  as  much  good  as  the  other  is  now  doing 
evil. 

As  an  illustration  of  what  I  mean  in  reference  to 
the  influence  of  Eastern  thought  upon  the  West  I 
would  prophesy  that  ere  long  the  Indian  Christian 
Church  will  formulate  for  itself  and  enunciate  to  the 
world  an  advanced  and  helpful  doctrine  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  beyond  anything  that  the  West  has  enunciated. 
India,  which  for  these  many  centuries  has  been  the 
home  of  an  all-prevalent  spiritual  pantheism,  when 
it  comes  to  elaborate  the  doctrine  of  God,  from  a 
Christian  standpoint,  will  give  as  much  emphasis  to 
His  immanence  as  the  West  has  given  to  His  tran- 
scendence. God  with  us  and  in  us  and  working  in 
all  creation,  even  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God,— this  is 
the  conception  which  the  Indian  Christian  will 
elaborate  and  illuminate  beyond  anything  that  the 
West  has  thus  far  attempted. 

There  is  danger,  today,  and  it  is  inevitable,  that 


142         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

missionaries  from  the  West  be  too  ambitious  to  occi- 
dentalize  the  native  Christian  community,  ignorant 
of,  or  indifferent  to,  the  grand  possibilities  of  thought 
and  of  life  which  lie  in  Eastern  character  and  teach- 
ing. It  is  much  easier  to  thrust  upon  them  every- 
thing Western  than  it  is  to  appreciate  and  to  con- 
serve many  things  Eastern.  The  future  missionary 
will  learn  wisdom  from  the  past  and  will  enter  upon 
his  work  with  less  depreciation  of  things  Oriental 
and  with  a  larger  desire  to  conserve  to  the  utmost 
Eastern  habits  of  thought  and  social  customs,  so  long 
as,  and  so  far  as,  they  can  be  made  the  vehicles  of 
Christian  thought  and  the  channels  of  Christian  life. 
Herein  must  lie  the  best  means  for  a  speedy  coming 
of  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  in  India. 


V 

THE  WOMEN  OF  INDIA 

THE  condition  of  its  women  is  the  truest  test 
of  a  people's  civilization.  Her  status  is  her 
country's  barometer. 

The  one  hundred  million  women  of  India  ad- 
mirably reflect  the  whole  social  and  religious  con- 
dition of  that  land.  There  are  more  nations  in  India 
than  are  found  in  all  Europe;  they  also  present  a 
greater  diversity  of  type.  Between  the  aboriginal 
tribes  which  treat  the  weaker  sex  only  as  a  beast  of 
burden,  and  the  Parsee  community  which  holds  its 
women  in  the  highest  consideration  and  furnishes 
them  with  a  liberal  education  and  large  opportunity, 
there  are  many  intermediate  tribes  and  nations  which 
regard  their  women  with  varying  degrees  of  consid- 
eration and  of  contempt. 

Of  all  Scriptures  the  Zend  Avesta  of  the  Parsees  is 
the  only  one  which  furnishes  woman,  from  the  be- 
ginning, with  absolute  equality  with  man;  and  that 
position  she  has  never  lost  among  the  Parsees.  But 
the  Parsees  in  India  are  a  mere  handful. 

The  Hindu  woman  constitutes  four-fifths  of  the 
total  number  of  her  sex  in  India;  and  her  condition 
is  fairly  uniform  everywhere  and  conforms,  in  vary- 
ing degrees,  to  a  type  whose  characteristics  are  easily 
recognized.  She  has  come  down  from  earliest  his- 
tory.    We  recognize  her  everywhere  in  the  pages  of 

143 


144         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

their  ancient  literature,  in  their  laws  and  legends;  and 
we  behold  her  in  all  the  manifold  walks  of  modern 
life.  For  nearly  a  quarter  of  a  century  the  writer  has 
lived  as  her  neighbour,  gazed  daily  upon  her  life, 
wondered  at  and  admired  her  many  noble  traits 
which  have  been  preserved  under  the  most  adverse 
circumstances,  and  grieved  over  her  weakness  and 
her  many  disabilities. 

In  ancient  times,  the  position  of  woman  in  India 
was  one  of  power  coupled  with  honour.  Today 
the  power  remains,  but  the  honour  has  been  largely 
eliminated. 

I.  In  ancient  Vedic  times  woman  enjoyed  many 
distinctions  and  revealed  great  aptitude.  She  joined 
her  husband  in  the  offering  of  domestic  sacrifices 
and  sat  as  queen  in  the  home.  Some  of  the  sacred 
hymns  of  the  Rigveda  were  made  by  her  and  have 
come  down  these  thirty  centuries  as  a  beautiful  testi- 
mony to  her  intellectual  brightness  and  aspiration,  and 
as  an  evidence  of  the  honour  in  which  she  was  held. 

Five  centuries  later  this  beautiful  description  was 
given  of  her  in  the  Mahabarata: 

"  A  wife  is  half  the  man,  his  truest  friend ; 
A  loving  wife  is  a  perpetual  spring 
Of  virtue,  pleasure,  wealth  ;  a  faithful  wife 
Is  his  best  aid  in  seeking  heavenly  bliss ; 
A  sweet  speaking  wife  is  a  companion 
In  solitude,  a  father  in  advice, 
A  mother  in  all  seasons  of  distress, 
A  rest  in  passing  through  life's  wilderness." 

The  rights  and  opportunities  of  woman  are  strik- 
ingly illustrated  by  many  of  the  legends  of  their 
ancient  epics.     For  instance,  we  read  of  the  Svayam- 


rhe  WOMEN  OF  INDIA      145 

vara  of  the  lovely  princess  Draupadi.  It  was  the 
occasion  when  she  had  attained  womanhood  and 
was  entitled  to  the  right  to  choose  her  own  husband. 
How  graphically  are  the  royal  suitors  described  as 
they  press  their  claims  to  her  heart  and  hand  in 
knightly  tournament.  It  is  one  of  those  scenes 
which  reveal  woman  in  the  possession  of  some  of 
her  most  queenly  rights  and  attractions. 

The  ancient  ideals  of  womanly  character  have  come 
down  the  centuries  writ  large  in  their  songs  and 
annals;  and  these  ideals  are  today  held  as  dearly, 
and  are  loved  and  sung  with  as  much  ardour,  as  at 
any  time  in  the  history  of  India. 

Every  boy  and  girl  of  that  land,  today,  knows  the 
lovely  Sita,  wife  of  the  noble  and  heroic  Rama, — how, 
while  in  the  power  of  the  terrible  Ravana,  and  at 
risk  of  life,  she  withstood  every  temptation  and 
lived  in  unspotted  purity  and  in  supreme  devotion 
and  faithfulness  to  her  royal  lord. 

Who  does  not  know  of  the  faithful  Saguntala, 
whose  legend  is  woven  into  one  of  the  most  beau- 
tiful and  touching  love  stories  the  world  has  ever 
known.  This  drama  was  the  first  translation  from 
Sanskrit  into  the  English  tongue  and  elicited  the  as- 
tonishment and  lively  admiration  of  such  a  man  as 
Goethe. 

India  has  always  boasted  of  the  constancy  and  de- 
votion of  the  beautiful  Savitri  to  her  beloved  Sattya- 
van.  After  the  death  of  her  husband,  she  followed 
his  soul  into  the  spirit-world  with  fearless  devotion 
and  pleaded  with  the  King  of  Death  with  so  much 
passion  and  persistence  for  his  return  to  life  that  he 
was  finally  restored  to  her  in  youthful  vigour, 


146         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

These  are  some  of  the  stock  illustrations  of  the 
model  wife  used  everywhere  and  at  all  times  in 
India.  And  they  have  had  an  extensive  and  wonder- 
ful influence  in  the  molding  of  wifely  ideals. 

It  is,  as  we  see,  a  glorification  of  devotion,  faith- 
fulness, constancy — traits  that  have  always  beautified 
the  character  of  the  Hindu  woman.  It  is  true  that, 
apart  from  her  husband  and  from  the  kitchen,  woman 
has  had  few  ideals  urged  upon  her  in  that  great  coun- 
try. Her  ambitions  have  not  crossed  the  doorsteps 
of  her  house  and  home.  She  is  measured  entirely  by 
her  relation  to  her  husband  or  children.  She  is  her 
lord's  companion  and  servant.  Love  to  him  is  the 
wand  which  alone  can  transform  her  life  into  gold. 
Her  usefulness  and  her  glory  are  the  reflections  of 
his  pleasure  and  of  his  satisfaction  in  her.  She  has 
no  separate  existence.  Apart  from  man,  she  is  an 
absolute  nonentity.  And  yet,  within  the  sphere 
which  has  been  granted  to  her,  she  has  shone  with  a 
wonderful  radiance  and  with  a  charm  which  re- 
minds us  often  of  some  of  Shakespeare's  beautiful 
womanly  creations. 

The  physical  attractions  of  woman  have  always, 
of  course,  captivated  the  sterner  sex  in  India,  as  in 
other  lands.  Her  beauty  is  lavishly  described  and 
painted  in  warm  colours  through  all  Hindu  literature. 
And  she  is  physically  beautiful;  she  will  compare 
favourably  with  the  fair  ones  of  any  land  in  womanly 
grace,  in  beauty  of  figure,  and  in  bewitching  charm 
of  manner. 

But  the  standard  of  womanly  grace  and  beauty  is 
not  precisely  the  same  there  as  it  is  with  us  in  the 
West.     A  Hindu  and  an   American  have  different 


The  WOMEN  OF  INDIA      147 

ideals  of  personal  beauty.  Though  the  Aryan  type 
of  countenance  may  not  largely  differ  East  and 
West,  there  are  touches  of  expression  and  shades  of 
beauty  which  correspond  respectively  to  the  different 
ideals  in  both  lands.  May  they  not  have  created  the 
ideals  themselves  } 

The  most  common  results  of  a  Hindu  woman's  toilet 
are  the  smooth  hair,  the  blackened  eyebrow,  the 
reddened  finger-nails,  the  pendent  nose  jewels,  the 
bulky  ear-rings,  the  heavy  bangles  for  ankles  and 
arms.  Without  these,  life,  to  the  Hindu  belle,  is  not 
worth  living.  On  wedding  occasions,  among  the 
common  folk,  red  ochre  is  also  daubed  over  the 
throat  in  ghastly  suggestion  to  the  Westerner;  but 
in  glorious  attractiveness  to  the  native  of  the  land! 

West  and  East  associate  a  fair  complexion  with 
highest  beauty.  A  fond  Hindu  mother  once  came  to 
the  writer  moaning  that  she  could  not  find  a  husband 
for  her  daughter  because  she  was  "  too  black!  "  The 
young  man  of  India  puts  a  premium  upon  every 
shade  of  added  lightness  of  complexion.  His  taste 
is  reflected  in  the  universal  feminine  custom  of  using 
saffron  dye  to  lighten  the  complexion  upon  all 
festive  occasions. 

The  clothing  of  the  woman  of  India  is  exceedingly 
attractive.  Her  pretty  garb  sets  off  admirably  the 
beauty  of  her  person;  and,  both  in  inexpensiveness 
and  grace,  and  in  its  contribution  to  health,  is  far  bet- 
ter than  the  complicated  extravagance,  the  heavy 
encumbrance  and  the  insanitary  tight-lacing  of  the 
West.  The  women  of  South  India  dress  with  a  view 
to  comfort  in  the  tropics;  but  they  have  also,  in  a 
most  remarkable  degree,  conserved  appropriateness, 


148         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

beauty,  and  simplicity  in  their  robes.  The  possibilities 
of  the  one  cloth,  which  is  the  full  dress  of  the  South 
Indian  woman,  as  a  modest  garment  and  as  a  charm- 
ing full-dress  equipment  would  be  a  revelation  to  the 
much  dressed  votary  of  the  West.  In  the  arranging 
of  this  cloth  there  is  considerable  scope  for  ingenuity 
and  for  aesthetic  taste;  although,  in  this  matter,  the 
rules  of  each  caste  furnish  an  iron  etiquette  which 
must  be  followed  by  the  women.  Indeed,  the 
tyranny  of  Worth  in  the  West  is  nothing  as  compared 
with  caste  tyranny  as  the  Fashioner  of  the  East. 
This  is  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  a  woman's 
dress  must  be  arranged  in  such  a  way  as  to  publish 
abroad  her  caste  affiliations. 

Woman  has  a  vast  influence  upon  the  life  of  the 
people  of  India.  In  no  other  country  has  she  rela- 
tively exercised  more  power.  All  this,  notwith- 
standing the  fact  that,  for  more  than  twenty  cen- 
turies, she  has  had  no  recognized  position  in  religion 
or  in  society.  Her  spiritual  destiny  has  been  entirely 
in  the  hands  of  man.  By  the  highest  authorities  her 
salvation  has  been  made  entirely  dependent  upon  her 
connection  with  him.  She  has  absolutely  no  right 
of  worship  of  her  own.  From  the  cradle  to  the 
grave  she  is  in  man's  keeping.  Until  she  is  married, 
supreme  obedience  to  her  father  is  her  only  safety; 
while  her  husband  lives,  heaven's  blessings  can  come 
to  her  only  through  his  favour  and  prayer;  and,  after 
his  death,  her  sons  become  her  lords  and  the  sole 
guardians  and  protectors  of  her  spiritual  interests. 
All  this  is  everywhere  recognized  by  Hindu  society, 
and  by  none  more  than  by  the  woman  herself. 

And  yet,  it  is  equally  true,  and  a  fact  of  remark- 


rhe  WOMEN  OF  INDIA      149 

able  significance,  that,  in  India  today,  the  religious 
influence  of  woman  is  paramount.  She  is  the  strong- 
hold of  Hinduism  at  the  beginning  of  this  twentieth 
century.  Man,  under  the  growing  influence  of 
western  thought,  civilization,  and  faith,  has  largely 
lost  his  moorings  and  is  growing  increasingly  insin- 
cere and  a  trifler  with  religious  beliefs  and  institu- 
tions. The  woman,  on  the  other  hand,  is  a  con- 
servative of  the  conservatives.  In  her  superstition 
she  is  deeply  sincere;  her  faith  has  no  questionings, 
and  her  piety  shapes  her  every  activity.  Were  it  not 
for  the  women  of  India,  Hinduism,  with  all  its 
vaunted  philosophy,  its  wonderful  ritual  and  its 
mighty  caste  tyranny,  would,  within  a  decade,  fall 
into  "innocuous  desuetude." 

It  is  a  significant  fact  that  in  the  religion  of  no 
other  people  on  earth  does  the  worship  of  the  female 
find  so  prominent  a  place.  In  many  parts  of  the 
land  Sahti  worship,  or  the  worship  of  goddesses,  is 
widely  prevalent  and  almost  paramount  in  influence. 
It  is  really  the  worship  of  power  under  a  female 
form;  and  the  power  which  these  goddesses  exercise 
is  mostly  malevolent  in  its  character.  The  terrible 
wife  of  Siva,  in  all  her  dread  manifestations,  is  the 
most  popular  deity,  because  the  most  feared  in  the 
land. 

It  is  natural  to  inquire  whether  this  characteristic 
of  the  Hindu  pantheon  is  not  a  reflection  of  the  Hindu 
mind  as  to  the  influence  of  woman,  and  as  to  the 
belief  of  rnan  in  the  evil  character  of  that  influence. 
As  is  the  place  and  power  of  women  among  the  men 
so  is  the  character  and  place  of  the  goddesses  in  the 
pantheon  of  that  people. 


I50         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

The  famous  religious  reformer  Chunder  Sen, 
though  he  adopted  and  used  the  Lord's  Prayer, 
changed  the  form  of  address  from  the  masculine  to 
the  feminine  and  said,  "Our  Mother  who  art  in 
heaven!"  The  adoration  of  the  female  in  Hindu 
worship  was  never  more  marked  than  at  present. 
What  has  Christianity  to  meet  this  bent  of  the  Hindu 
mind  ?  Or  should  it  be  discouraged  as  an  element  in 
worship  ?  The  Romanists  meet  it  by  exalting  and 
giving  preeminence  to  the  Virgin  Mother.  The 
Protestants  have  nothing  corresponding  to  this. 

Socially,  the  Hindu  woman  is  a  reactionary  of  the 
most  pronounced  type;  she  opposes  social  reform  at 
all  points — nowhere  more  than  when  it  is  directed  to 
ameliorate  her  own  condition.  Religiously,"  as  we 
have  seen,  she  is  the  slave  of  man  by  law  and  teach- 
ing; yet  she  rules  her  household,  even  in  these  mat- 
ters, with  an  iron  hand. 

From  her  throne  in  the  home  she  so  wields  her 
sceptre  that  it  is  felt  also  throughout  the  whole  social 
fabric.  Her  beloved  lord  has  perhaps  passed  through  a 
university  course,  is  a  pronounced  social  reformer  and 
discourses  in  eloquent  English,  before  large  audiences 
of  his  admiring  countrymen,  concerning  the  mighty 
social  evils  which  are  the  curse  of  the  country;  he, 
with  his  ardent  fellow-reformers,  frames  rules  which 
shall  soon  usher  in  the  millennium  of  social  reform 
and  progress!  And  then  he— this  man  of  culture,  of 
eloquence,  of  noble  purposes  and  of  altruistic  ambi- 
tions— goes  to  his  home  and  meekly  submits  to  the 
grandmotherly  tyranny  which  has  shaped  his  life 
much  more  than  he  knows,  and  which  vitiates  and 
renders  nugatory  all  his  social  and  other  schemes! 


T:he  WOMEN  OF  INDIA      151 

As  man  has  narrowed  the  scope  of  woman's  life  in 
that  land,  so  she  has  given  it  intensity  of  power. 

And  what  is  more  significant,  she  has  become  su- 
premely contented  with  the  narrow  sphere  which 
man  has  grudgingly  given  her.  And,  for  this  very 
reason,  she  combats  every  endeavour,  on  the  part  of 
her  friends,  to  release  her  from  her  bondage  and  to 
increase  her  opportunities  and  blessings  in  life.  The 
old  triple  slander  perpetrated  upon  India,  to  the  effect 
that  *'it  is  a  country  in  which  the  women  never 
laugh,  the  birds  never  sing  and  the  flowers  have  no 
fragrance,"  is  a  falsehood  in  all  its  details.  Hindu 
women  have  as  merry  a  laugh  as  their  sisters  in  any 
other  land.  They  have  learned  to  make  the  best  of 
their  lot  and  to  rejoice  in  it. 

Since  the  time  of  the  Mohammedan  conquest,  and 
probably  long  before,  the  higher  class  of  women 
have  mostly  led  a  life  of  seclusion.  This  is  preemi- 
nently true  of  the  northern  parts  of  the  country 
where  Mohammedan  influence  was  strongest  and  the 
Hindu  had  carefully  to  protect  his  wife  and  daugh- 
ters from  the  coarse  Mussulman.  In  South  India  this 
seclusion  is  very  rare  and  observed  only  among  the 
most  aristocratic.  The  common  woman  of  India 
finds  ample  freedom  of  intercourse  in  her  town  and 
village,  and  figures  conspicuously  at  the  great  re- 
ligious festivals  of  her  land. 

Generally  speaking,  woman  is  the  redeeming  fea- 
ture of  India.  She  is  the  ideal  home-keeper  and 
housekeeper.  Usually,  she  is  devoted  to  her  hus- 
band, a  passionate  lover  of  her  children,  the  conserver 
of  society,  the  true  devotee  in  religion.  Her  lord  and 
husband  has  been  taught,  from  time  immemorial,  to 


152          INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

keep  her  in  obscurity  and  to  surround  her  with  the 
screen  of  ignorance  and  narrow  sympathies;  but  she 
has  magnified  the  work  assigned  to  her;  her  excel- 
lence has  shown  far  beyond  his ;  and,  in  her  bondage, 
she  has  built  her  throne  from  which  she  has  wielded 
her  sceptre  of  love  and  goodness  over  him. 

She  has  never  aspired  to  realms  not  granted  to  her 
by  her  lawgivers.  The  modern  aspiration  of  the 
"  new  woman  "  of  the  West  does  not  appeal  to  her. 
She  asks  only  to  be  let  alone  in  her  narrow,  but  to 
her,  all-sufficient  sphere. 

2.  But,  after  all  we  have  said,  or  can  say,  of  the 
power  of  woman  in  India,  it  still  remains  that,  in  no 
other  land,  has  she  suffered  such  marked  disability 
and  deeper  injustice.  If  her  goodness  has  shone  out 
of  her  darkness,  it  has  only  served  to  reveal  the  more 
the  sadness  of  her  position.  She  bears  in  her  condi- 
tion the  signs  of  her  bondage  and  humiliation.  The 
evils  of  the  land  have  been  attributed  to  her;  and 
man  too  often  ascribes  his  own  degradation  and  sin 
to  the  curse  breathed  upon  him  by  woman. 

The  proverbs  of  a  country  are  the  truest  test  of  its 
sentiments.  What  have  these  to  say  of  the  woman 
of  India  today  ? 

**  What  poison  is  that  which  appears  like  nectar.? 
Woman." 

'*  What  is  the  chief  gate  to  hell  ?    Woman." 

**  What  is  cruel  }  The  heart  of  a  viper.  What  is 
more  cruel  ?  The  heart  of  a  woman.  What  is  the 
most  cruel  of  all  ?  The  heart  of  a  soulless,  penni- 
less widow." 

"He  is  a  fool  who  considers  his  wife  as  his 
friend." 


rhe  WOMEN  OF  INDIA      153 

"  Educating  a  woman  is  like  putting  a  knife  in  the 
hands  of  a  monkey." 

These  are  a  few  of  the  many  proverbs  which  char- 
acterize woman  in  one  vernacular  only.  Every  other 
Indian  tongue  equally  abounds  in  proverbial  express- 
ions which  brand  a  woman  as  one  of  the  greatest 
evils  of  the  land.  Sanskrit  writers  have  exhausted 
vituperative  language  in  describing  woman.  They 
represent  her  as  ''wily,  hypocritical,  lying,  decep- 
tive, artful,  fickle,  freakish,  vindictive,  vicious,  lazy, 
vain,  dissolute,  hard-hearted,  sinful,  petty-minded, 
jealous,  addicted  to  simulation  and  dissimulation. 
She  is  worse  than  the  worst  of  animals,  more  poison- 
ous than  the  poison  of  vipers." 

These  proverbs  do  not  necessarily  reveal  the  de- 
pravity of  the  Hindu  woman;  but  they  do  testify 
unmistakably  to  the  estimation  in  which  she  is  held 
by  man. 

The  ignorance  of  woman  there  is  dense  and  is 
probably  a  fact  which  closely  connects  her  with  the 
proverbial  expressions  concerning  her.  Her  illiteracy 
is  not  an  incident  in  Indian  life.  It  has  been,  through 
the  centuries,  a  settled  policy  of  the  land.  At  the 
present  time  only  one  woman  in  two  hundred  can 
read  and  write  in  that  land  of  progress.  The  re- 
markable thing  is,  not  that  so  many  are  illiterate,  but 
that  even  a  few  have  been  taught  at  all,  in  view  of 
the  attitude  of  the  Hindu  mind  towards  her.  In  an- 
cient times  there  was  little  to  learn,  in  India,  apart 
from  religion ;  but  it  has  been  the  strict  injunction  of 
their  Shastras  and  religious  instructors  that  no  man 
shall,  under  penalty  of  hell,  teach  to  his  wife  or 
daughter  the  Vedas  which  are  the  purest  and  best 


154         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

part  of  Hindu  Scriptures.  Any  form  of  useful  knowl- 
edge was  considered  dangerous  in  her  possession. 

It  is  not  that  woman  is  wanting  in  capacity.  She 
is  as  bright  and  as  teachable  as  her  brother.  All  that 
she  has  needed,  educationally,  has  been  opportunity; 
and  this,  society  has  denied  her,  and  this  has  done 
injustice  not  only  to  her  but,  still  more,  to  itself.  . 

Infant  marriage  has  been,  for  many  centuries,  a 
crying  evil  in  that  land.  This  has  brought  to  woman 
a  train  of  evils  which  have  made  deplorable  her  con- 
dition above  all  the  women  of  the  earth.  This  custom 
originated,  probably,  from  a  sense  of  kindness  to  the 
girl  herself.  It  was  the  expression  of  a  desire  on  the 
part  of  the  parents  to  insure  their  daughter,  at  an 
early  date,  against  failure  to  attain  that  which  all 
Hindus  regard  as  the  summum  bonuni  of  a  woman's 
life— marriage.  But,  in  their  short-sighted  policy, 
they  failed  to  realize  the  myriad  evils  which  would 
follow  this  pernicious  custom.  The  girl's  will  or 
desire  must  not  be  regarded  as  an  element  in  this 
life  compact!  And,  what  is  worse  still,  these  in- 
fant compacts  are  necessarily  followed  by  early  con- 
summation, whereby  girls  enter,  in  many  cases, 
upon  the  duties  of  motherhood  at  twelve  years  of 
age.  Few,  indeed,  are  permitted  to  reach  full  phys- 
ical development  before  they  assume  the  function  of 
child-bearing.  This  is  not  only  a  serious  evil  to  the 
woman  herself,  it  also  gives  poor  chance  for  the 
begetting  of  a  healthy  progeny  and  for  the  early 
training  of  the  same.  And  it  is  not  strange  that  the 
woman  who  thus  early  enters  the  sphere  of  mother- 
hood should  become  a  worn  out  old  woman  at  thirty- 
five  or  forty  years. 


The  WOMEN  OF  INDIA      155 

Much  effort  has  been  put  forth  in  India,  by  West- 
erners especially,  to  make  infant  marriages  impossi- 
ble, or  at  least  unpopular.  But,  little  success  has 
thus  far  attended  this  effort. 

A  small  meed  of  alleviation  was  gained  with  much 
effort  in  1 89 1.  It  came  through  the  passing  of  the 
"Age  of  Consent  Bill"  whereby  the  age  of  a  girl's 
consent  to  cohabitation  was  raised  from  ten  to 
twelve.  To  a  Westerner,  the  blessing  acquired  by 
this  bill  seems  in  itself  a  mockery  and  only  reveals 
the  appalling  cruelty  of  that  people  to  its  girls. 

It  has  been  found  impossible  to  touch,  much  less 
remove,  the  gross  evil  of  infant  marriage  itself,  the 
custom  which  opens  wide  the  door  to  other  ghastly 
evils. 

The  greatest  of  these  is  that  of  virgin-widowhood. 
If  men  will  perversely  marry  their  infant  daughters 
to  small  boys,  it  is  sure  that  a  considerable  proportion 
of  the  boys  will  die  before  their  marriage  is  consum- 
mated. Thus,  annually,  thousands  of  these  poor 
girls,  who  are  in  absolute  ignorance  of  the  situation, 
are  converted  into  virgin  widows  whose  condition, 
upon  the  death  of  their  husbands,  is  instantly  changed 
from  one  of  innocent  childhood  pleasure  into  a  sad, 
despised  and  hated  widowhood.  For,  the  parents 
of  the  boy  sincerely  believe  that  it  is  her  evil  star 
which  has  killed  the  boy  whose  destiny  was  blended 
with  her  own.  And  henceforth  she  is  regarded,  not 
only  by  the  parents  concerned,  but  by  society  in 
general,  as  an  accursed  person,  hated  for  what  has 
happened  to  her  husband,  and  also  a  creature  to  be 
shunned.  Her  presence  must  not  be  allowed  on  any 
festive  occasion,  lest  its  evil  influence  bring  sorrow 


156         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

and  death  to  others.  Thus  a  child  of  four  or  five 
years  may  suddenly  have  her  prospects  blasted,  her 
life  embittered  and  her  company  shunned  by  the 
whole  world,  with  none  to  befriend,  to  cheer  or  to 
comfort  her.  There  are  two  millions  of  such  sad 
and  injured  ones  in  India  today.  Their  cry  goes  up 
to  God  and  to  man  in  inarticulate  appeal  for  relief  and 
redress  against  a  social  custom  and  a  religious  rule 
which  consigns  them,  in  their  time  of  greatest  inno- 
cency,  to  a  life  which  is  worse  than  death  itself  and 
which  robs  them  of  the  protection,  love  and  sympa- 
thy which  the  whole  economy  of  heaven  and  earth 
should  guarantee  to  them. 

Coupled  with  this  terrible  fact  is  the  other,  that 
woman  must  marry  in  India  anyhow.  No  disgrace 
and  misfortune  can  befall  a  woman,  according  to 
Hindu  ideas,  equal  to  that  of  spending  her  whole  life 
in  maidenhood.  This,  of  course,  is  connected  with 
the  idea  that  she  has  no  social  status  or  religious 
destiny  apart  from  man.  Hence  it  is  that  a  host  of 
loving  parents,  who  are  unable  to  find  a  suitable 
match  for  their  daughters,  rather  than  leave  them 
unmarried,  stupidly  join  them  in  wedlock  to  pro- 
fessional bridegrooms.  There  is,  in  Bengal,  today,  a 
division  of  the  Brahman  caste  whose  men  are  pro- 
fessional purveyors  to  this  silly  but  prevalent  super- 
stition. They  are  prepared  to  marry  any  number  of 
girls  at  remunerative  rates.  And  thus  they  acquire  a 
fair  income.  Each  of  these  men  has  scores  of  such 
wives  and  entertains  the  proud  satisfaction,  doubt- 
less, that  he  is  bestowing  a  favour  upon  a  benighted 
community  by  coupling  his  name  in  wedlock  with 
unfortunate  girls  who  otherwise  would  be  without  a 


The  WOMEN  OF  INDIA      157 

name  or  hope  among  men!  A  state  of  society  which 
renders  such  a  condition  of  things  possible  is  not 
only  a  disgrace  to  any  community,  it  is  a  monstrous 
evil  against  the  womanhood  of  that  community.  Is  it 
any  wonder,  then,  that  so  many  of  the  women  of 
India,  under  these  circumstances,  should  commit 
suicide  ?  Is  it  strange  that  a  wife,  in  such  a  land,  should 
find  it  best  to  obey  and  submit  to  indignities  of  the 
worst  kind  from  her  husband  ?  And  is  it  remarkable 
that  the  Hindu  widow,  rather  than  endure  the  neglect, 
the  temptations  and  the  obloquy  of  her  widowhood, 
should  have  preferred  to  practice  Suttee  and  to  end 
her  miseries  upon  the  funeral  pyre  of  her  husband  ? 
When  we  remember  that  their  system  consigns  one- 
fifth  of  all  the  women  of  India — more  than  20,000,000 
souls — to  this  despised  and  ostracized  widow  class, 
we  realize  the  depth  of  evil  which  flows  from  the 
system. 

There  is  still  another  cruel  injustice  inflicted  upon 
the  womanhood  of  India.  Many  thousands  (there 
are  12,000  in  South  India  alone)  of  her  daughters  are 
dedicated  in  infancy  to  a  life  of  shame  in  connection 
with  temple  worship  in  that  land.  These  women, 
the  so-called  **  servants  of  the  gods,"  have  been 
mostly  dedicated  by  fond  mothers  to  this  wretched 
life  as  a  thank  ofl'ering  to  the  gods  for  blessings  re- 
ceived. This  seems  very  strange  when  it  is  known 
that  all  such  girls  thereby  become  public  characters. 
The  ** Dancing  Girl"  of  India  is  thus  shut  up  to  her 
evil  life  by  those  who  love  her  most;  and  her  relig- 
ious profession  becomes  to  her  the  highway  to  perdi- 
tion and  a  bitter  curse  to  society.  Recent  effort  has 
been  made,  in  Bombay,  to  save  such  girls  by  making 


158         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

it  a  legal  offence  to  "  marry  "  them  to  the  gods  and 
thus  devote  them  to  a  life  of  shame.  But  this  law 
only  refers  to  the  dedication  of  girls  of  tender  age  in 
Bombay.  It  is  exceedingly  sad  that,  practically,  the 
whole  population  is  utterly  indifferent  to  this  greatest 
insult  committed  against  the  womanhood  of  India 
and  to  the  coupling  of  their  own  religion  and  their 
gods  with  the  ruin  of  the  soul  and  body  of  many 
thousands  of  the  daughters  of  the  land. 

It  is  not  remarkable,  under  these  circumstances, 
that  among  all  the  people  of  India  the  birth  of  a 
daughter  is  the  most  unwelcome  of  domestic  events. 
The  evils  which  surely  await  her,  and  the  greater 
possibilities  of  sorrow  and  suffering  which  surround 
her,  the  great  burden  of  expense  and  of  trouble 
which  her  training,  and  especially  her  marriage,  will 
entail  upon  the  family — all  combine  to  make  her 
birth  a  much  dreaded  event. 

The  large  expense,  in  the  shape  of  the  marriage 
dowry  and  the  wedding  expenses  which  have  to  be 
incurred  among  nearly  all  classes  in  connection  with 
the  disposal  of  their  daughters,  only  make  this  situa- 
tion the  more  emphatic. 

The  practice  of  infanticide,  so  extensively  found 
in  India,  was  the  direct  result  of  this  difficulty. 
For  instance,  among  the  noble  race  of  Rajputs 
in  North  India  it  was  found,  some  years  ago, 
that,  in  a  community  of  30,000,  there  was  not  a 
single  girl!  Every  daughter  that  was  born  was 
killed.  The  higher  the  rank  of  the  family  the  more 
constant  and  systematic  was  the  crime.  *'  Thus, 
while  an  unmarried  daughter  in  India  is  looked  upon 
as  hopelessly  disgraced,  a  son-in-law  cannot  always 


The  WOMEN  OF  INDIA      159 

be  found  unless  the  father  of  the  girl  is  prepared  to 
pay  highly,  and  the  marriage  of  a  daughter  may 
mean  the  ruin  of  a  family.  Rather  than  incur  this 
danger,  the  Rajput  preferred  that  his  daughter  should 
perish.  And  though  the  government  has  enacted 
stringent  laws  against  this  custom,  it  is  not  entirely 
eradicated  yet."  ^  y 

Thus  the  Hindus  have  wittingly  and  unwittingly 
placed  many  of  the  most  serious  disabilities  of  life 
upon  their  women.  And  the  greatest  evil  of  it  is 
ihat  the  woman  has  become  so  hardened  to  her  lot 
that,  like  the  prisoner  of  Chillon,  she  has  become 
enamoured  of  her  chains  and  is  most  loathe  to  part 
with  her  bondage. 

3.  But  the  dawn  of  a  new  day  has  risen  upon 
India.  It  is  the  day  of  woman's  emancipation.  A 
new  spirit,  during  the  past  century,  has  entered  that 
land,  and  the  welcome  era  of  brighter  blessing,  greater 
appreciation  and  larger  opportunity  for  woman  has 
actually  begun.  One  has  only  to  study  the  laws 
which,  during  the  nineteenth  century,  were  enacted 
in  India  with  a  view  to  removing  the  terrible  evils 
and  crimes  which  were  committed  under  the  sanc- 
tion of  Hinduism;  and  he  will  find  that  not  a  few  are 
directed  towards  the  amelioration  of  the  condition  of 
woman.  Such  inhuman  customs  as  suttee,  the  mur- 
der of  children,  the  dedication  of  girls  to  lives  of 
shame — these  have  been  removed  in  whole  or  in 
part;  and,  by  the  **  Age  of  Consent  Bill"  and  other 
similar  half  measures,  the  beginning  has  been  made 
in  introducing  a  day  of  better  things  for  the  women. 

Many  of  the  efforts  of  Hindu  Social  Reformers  are 

1  Sir  John  Strachey's  "  India,"  page  31 1. 


i6o         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

directed  towards  the  removal  of  some  of  the  disabili- 
ties under  which  woman  lives.  It  is  true  that  the 
woman  of  India  cannot  expect,  for  a  long  time,  much 
help  from  her  own  people.  Even  the  Social  Reform- 
ers among  them  are  so  few  in  number,  are  so  half- 
hearted in  their  measures,  and  are  so  unwilling  to 
deny  themselves  in  behalf  of  the  cause  which  they 
advocate,  that  little  can  be  expected  from  them. 
And  yet,  it  must  be  said  that  in  a  few  matters  of  im- 
portance Hindu  sentiment  is  slowly  moving  in  the 
right  direction.  As  a  Social  Reformer,  the  Hindu  is 
a  poor  success;  but  he  is  not  a  fool;  he  can  see  that 
the  situation,  so  far  as  woman  is  concerned,  is  be- 
coming increasingly  untenable  and  flagrantly  incon- 
sistent with  the  growing  light  of  today.  The  hope 
is  that  he  will  yield,  with  increasing  readiness,  to  the 
pressure  brought  to  bear  upon  him  by  Western  senti- 
ment. 

The  presence  of  many  women  of  the  West  in  that 
land  has  been  a  standing  rebuke  to  the  Hindu  social 
situation.  These  women  have  done  not  a  little  to 
stir  within  their  Eastern  sisters  a  desire  for  some- 
thing better.  They  open  their  eyes  to  the  contrasted 
conditions  of  the  women  of  the  East  and  of  the 
West.  When  they  shall  have  aroused  the  women  of 
India  to  the  desperateness  of  their  condition  and  to 
the  urgent  need  of  reform  and  relief,  the  battle  will 
be  more  than  half  fought  and  victory  will  be  in  view. 
For,  when  the  Eastern  woman  herself  will  vigorously 
demand  her  emancipation,  man  will  yield  it  to  her. 
The  Dufferin  Hospitals  are  a  noble  tribute  to  the 
active  interest  of  the  good  lady  whose  name  they 
bear;  and  the  sympathetic  endeavour  of  Lady  Curzon 


rhe  WOMEN  OF  INDIA      i6i 

for  the  elevation  of  India's  women  are  but  suggestive 
of  considerable  work  which  the  fair  sex  of  the  West 
have  rendered  and  are  rendering  in  behalf  of  their 
Indian  sisters. 

Protestant  Christian  missions  have  been  pioneers 
in  this  great  movement  towards  the  emancipation  of 
the  women  of  India.  American  and  English  women, 
connected  with  these  missions,  have  given  them- 
selves to  the  redemption  of  their  sisters.  More  than 
one  thousand  of  these  good  women  are  devoting 
their  lives  to  the  salvation  of  India  through  the  ele- 
vation of  the  women  of  the  land.  Thousands  of 
schools  are  conducted  by  them  in  which  a  host  of 
young  girls  are  receiving  that  training  which  Hindu- 
ism has  proscribed  for  many  centuries.  And  through 
these  schools,  and  by  means  of  at  least  two  thousand 
Bible  Women,  trained  by  them,  they  have  access  into 
hundreds  of  thousands  of  Hindu  homes  where  they 
reveal  to  the  women  and  girls  a  broader  horizon  of 
life  and  give  a  new  conception  of  the  privileges  and 
opportunities  which  are  opening  today  before  them. 
They  are  creating  among  the  women  a  spirit  of  un- 
rest which  is  the  dawning  of  a  new  ambition  for 
greater  things  in  life  and  service.  The  very  presence 
of  these  foreign  ladies  suggests  to  their  Indian  sister 
a  new  sphere  broader  than  the  home,  and  a  new  op- 
portunity pregnant  with  rich  blessings  to  the  land. 

Under  the  influence  of  these  missionary  efforts  and 
of  the  less  thorough  training  given  in  government 
schools,  Hindus  themselves  are  beginning  to  bestir 
themselves  and  to  establish  schools  for  their  daugh- 
ters; and  thus  we  trust  that  coming  years  will  not 
only  witness  a  change  of  thought  among  Hindus 


1 62         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

concerning  women,  but  also  a  new  line  of  indige- 
nous activity  for  their  elevation. 

There  is  further  ground  for  encouragement;  for 
the  Hindu  man  of  culture  is  growing  increasingly 
sensitive  to  the  wide  gulf  which  lies  between  him  and 
his  absolutely  untrained  wife.  He  sees  that,  while 
the  Western  woman  is  suited  in  every  way  to  be- 
come the  companion  of,  and  a  helpmeet  to,  her 
husband,  his  own  little  wife  is  fit  to  be  neither. 
Even  when  not  separated  from  him  by  a  disparity  of 
many  years  in  age,  he  finds  that  she  has  absolutely 
no  interest  outside  the  walls  of  her  home  and  has 
not  the  first  qualification  to  discuss  with  him  or  to 
help  him  by  advice  in  any  matter  pertaining  to  his 
work  or  profession.  So  he,  under  the  new  light  of 
modern  times,  is  increasingly  ambitious  to  have  a 
wife  of  the  new  training  and  of  the  larger  horizon, 
and  is  willing  to  pay  a  premium  for  her  in  marriage. 
And  this,  itself,  is  beginning  to  create  a  market  for 
educated  women  even  in  that  stronghold  of  con- 
servatism, the  Brahman  caste. 

Thus  the  effort  of  Christian  missions  in  the  develop- 
ment of  womanhood  is  acting  like  leaven  upon  the 
whole  social  mass. 


THE  HISTORY  OF  CHRISTIAN  EFFORT 
IN  INDIA 

CHRISTIANITY  found  very  early  entrance  into 
India.  How  early  we  cannot  definitely  say. 
The  Syrian  Church  of  Malabar  traces  its 
legendary  origin  to  the  **  doubting  disciple,"  by 
whose  name  it  loves  to  be  called.  The  Romish 
Church  also  warmly  supports  this  contention  and 
exalts  St.  Thomas  to  a  high  place  as  the  Patron  Saint 
and  Apostle  of  India. 

Careful  historical  investigation  entirely  overthrows 
this  old  claim.  The  Thomas  legends  probably  owe 
their  existence  to  the  natural  desire  of  the  Syrian 
Christians  to  connect  their  history  with  Apostolic 
origin  and  sanction.  The  name  may  also  be  con- 
founded with  a  later  Thomas,  several  of  whom  were 
conspicuous  in  the  annals  of  the  India  Syrian  Church. 

The  ancient  vagueness  of  the  name  ''India,"  has 
also,  doubtless,  had  no  little  influence  in  the  forma- 
tion of  these  legends.  In  the  beginning  of  the 
Christian  era  *Mndia"  was  a  term  of  much  wider 
application  than  at  present.  It  included  several 
countries  in  Southwestern  Asia,  and  even  a  portion 
of  Africa.  While  St.  Thomas  may  therefore  have 
laboured  and  died  in  **  India,"  it  does  not  at  all  follow 
that  his  field  of  labour  was  within  the  limits  of  the 
peninsula  now  called  by  that  name.     Indeed,  many 

163 


i64         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

historical  incidents  and  facts  agree  in  disproving 
Apostolic  connection  with  the  rise  of  Christianity  in 
India. 

Pantaenus,  the  saintly  and  learned  Presbyter  and 
Christian  philosopher  of  Alexandria  and  the  re- 
nowned teacher  of  the  illustrious  church  fathers, 
Clement  and  Origen,  is  the  first  honoured  name  which 
finds  historic  sanction  in  the  grand  roll  of  Christian 
missionaries  to  India.  He  visited  Malabar,  South  In- 
dia, during  the  last  decade  of  the  second  century. 
He  was  a  man  wonderfully  equipped  by  deep  spirit- 
ual insight  and  piety  and  also  by  philosophic  training 
and  metaphysical  acumen  to  become  the  messenger 
of  Christian  truth  and  life  to  the  Buddhists  and 
Brahmans  who  lived  side  by  side  in  South  India  in 
those  days. 

We  know  little  of  his  work  in  that  land.  He 
found  in  Malabar  a  colony  of  Jewish  Christians  who 
possessed  a  copy  of  the  Gospel  of  Matthew  in  the 
Hebrew  tongue,  said  to  have  been  given  to  them  by 
the  Apostle  Bartholomew.  It  is  not  known,  how- 
ever, whether  this  last  named  apostle  laboured  among 
these  Christians  in  that  region. 

Probably  a  century  later  that  Christian  community 
formed  connection  with  Antioch,  Syria,  which  was 
the  first  of  all  Christian  missionary  centres;  but  which, 
through  its  Nestorian  faith,  soon  lost  its  missionary 
ardour. 

I.  And  thus  emerges  out  of  the  darkness  into  its 
long  and  unique  history  the  Syrian  Church  of  Malabar. 

It  has  passed  through  many  vicissitudes  and  has 
lost  much,  if  not  all,  of  its  positive  Christian  influence 
and  missionary  character.     During  a  recent  visit  to 


The  EFFORT  IN  INDIA      165 

that  region  I  was  saddened  by  the  sight  of  this  Chris- 
tian community  which  had  lived  all  these  centuries  in 
the  centre  of  a  heathen  district  with  apparently  no 
concern  for  the  religious  condition  of  the  surrounding, 
non-Christian,  masses — content  to  be  as  a  separate 
caste  without  religious  influence  upon,  or  ambition  to 
bring  Christ  into  the  life  of,  its  benighted  neighbours. 

This  church  has  survived  its  own  apathy,  on  the 
one  side,  and  Roman  Catholic  inquisition  on  the 
other,  and  appears  before  the  world  as  what  it  really 
is — the  only  indigenous  Christian  Church  in  the  pen- 
insula of  India.  It  enjoys  the  unique  distinction  of 
having  lived  more  than  a  millennium  and  a  half  in  a 
heathen  land,  for  a  thousand  years  of  which  it  was 
entirely  surrounded  by  a  non-Christian  people. 

During  the  last  half  century  it  has  been  consider- 
ably influenced  by  the  work  and  example  of  the 
Church  Missionary  Society  which  is  established  in 
that  region.  Through  this  influence  a  Reformed 
Syrian  Church  has  come  into  existence  which  prom- 
ises to  do  much  for  the  whole  community  in  ideals 
and  life.  The  Syrian  Church  has  hitherto  been 
greatly  cursed  with  the  trinity  of  evils— ignorance, 
ceremonialism  and  superstition.  It  was  not  until 
181 1  (at  the  suggestion  of  an  Englishman)  that  it 
translated  a  part  of  the  Bible  (the  four  gospels)  into 
the  vernacular.  And  this  is  the  only  translation  of 
the  Scriptures  ever  made  and  published  by  the  na- 
tives of  India. 

The  Syrian  Church  now  numbers  248,741.  That 
part  of  the  Syrian  community  which  the  Romish 
Church  compelled,  by  the  inquisition,  to  unite  with 
it  numbers  322,586. 


1 66         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

2.  From  the  fourteenth  century  the  Roman  Cath- 
olic Church  has  continued  to  send  out  her  emissaries 
and  missionaries  to  that  land. 

Jordanus  and  his  brave  band  of  missionary  asso- 
ciates were  her  first  representatives. 

But  it  was  only  from  the  arrival  of  Vasco  da  Gama 
and  the  Portuguese  conquest  four  centuries  ago,  that 
the  influence  of  that  Church  began  to  be  seriously 
felt  and  its  triumphs  recorded. 

By  the  sword  and  cruel  Inquisition  not  only  were 
Syrian  Christians  compelled  to  transfer  their  al- 
legiance to  the  Pope;  non-Christians  also  were,  for 
perhaps  the  second  time  in  the  long  history  of  the 
land,  subjected  to  the  bitter  restraints  and  inhuman 
inflictions  of  religious  persecution.  It  is  a  curious 
fact  that  the  hideous  and  bloody  monster  of  religious 
intolerance  was  hardly  known  in  India  until,  first,  the 
followers  of  Mohammed  and,  secondly,  the  disciples 
of  the  meek  and  lowly  Jesus  began  to  invade  the 
land. 

Then  follow  the  devoted  and  heroic  labours  of  the 
saintly  Xavier.  He  was  a  man  of  princely  extrac- 
tion, of  royal  bearing,  of  Christian  devotion  and  self- 
denial.  He  wrought,  according  to  his  light,  with 
supreme  loyalty  to  his  Lord  and  with  a  divine  passion 
for  souls  in  South  India.  Many  thousands  of  the  poor 
fishermen  on  the  coast  was  he  permitted  to  baptize 
into  the  Christian  faith.  It  is  much  to  be  regretted 
that,  like  nearly  all  subsequent  Romish  missionaries, 
he  gave  himself,  all  but  exclusively,  to  the  cere- 
monial salvation,  rather  than  to  the  ethical  trans- 
formation and  the  spiritual  regeneration,  of  the 
people.     It  has  always  been  a  much  easier  thing,  in 


the  EFFORT  IN  INDIA      167 

India,  to  gather  the  people  for  the  reception  of  the 
mystical  ordinances  of  our  faith  than  it  has  been  to 
prepare  them,  by  patient  teaching  and  guidance,  to 
exemplify  its  precepts  by  their  lives. 

After  Xavier  came  the  accomplished  and  wily 
Jesuit,  Robert  de  Nobilibus — the  nephew  of  Cardinal 
Bellarmine.  A  believer  in  the  Jesuitical  principle  that 
the  end  justifies  the  means,  and  ardently  desiring  to 
bring  the  Brahmans  over  to  his  faith  he  proclaimed 
himself,  and  in  every  way  assumed  the  role  of,  ''the 
Western  Brahman."  He  lived  scrupulously  as  a 
member  of  that  haughty  caste  and,  until  recalled  by 
the  Pope  on  account  of  his  deception,  wielded  much 
influence  over  the  Brahmanical  hierarchy  in  Madura. 

Men  of  great  power  and  supreme  devotion  to  their 
faith  followed  as  representatives  of  that  great  Church 
in  India.  Such  names  as  de  Britto,  Beschi,  the  Abbe 
du  Bois  are  a  crown  of  honour  to  that  community. 
Many  like  them  spent  hves  of  great  self-denial  for 
the  cause  of  Christ  and  faithfully  wrought  for  the 
redemption  of  the  people;  so  that  at  present  the 
power  of  the  Romish  Church  and  the  devoted  energy 
of  its  leaders  are  known  in  every  section  of  the 
Peninsula.  After  nearly  six  centuries  of  effort  its 
community  in  India  has  reached  the  total  of  1,524,000 
souls.  For  a  long  time,  it  has  not  enjoyed  much  in- 
crease in  its  membership.  In  many  places  it  finds 
numerous  accessions;  but  not  a  few  of  its  people 
backslide  and  return  to  their  ancestral  faith.  The 
marked  defects  of  Romanism  in  that  land  have  been 
its  concessions  to,  and  compromise  with,  the  religion 
of  the  land  both  on  the  side  of  idolatrous  worship 
and  of  caste  observance.     I  have  discussed  the  sub- 


1 68         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

ject  with  Indian  Roman  Catholics  in  the  villages  and 
find  that  to  them  the  worship  of  saints,  through  their 
many  obtrusive  images,  is  practically  the  same  as  the 
idolatry  of  the  Hindus — the  only  marked  difference 
being  in  the  greater  size  of  the  Romish  images!  In 
like  manner  the  Jesuit  has  adopted  and  incorporated 
into  his  religion,  for  the  people  of  that  land,  the 
Hindu  caste  system  with  all  its  hideous  unchristian 
divisions.  All  this  makes  the  bridge  which  separates 
Hinduism  from  Roman  Catholic  Christianity  a  very 
narrow  one;  and  it  reduces  to  a  minimum  the  proc- 
ess of  ''conversion"  from  the  former  faith  to  the 
latter.  But  an  easy  path  from  Hinduism  to  Chris- 
tianity means  an  equally  facile  way  of  return  to  the 
ancestral  faith.  If  the  Hindu  has  little  to  surrender 
in  becoming  a  Christian,  neither  has  such  a  Christian 
any  serious  obstacle  to  prevent  his  return  to  Hindu 
gods  and  ceremonies  when  it  suits  his  convenience 
to  do  so.  Hence  it  is  that  the  new  accessions  to 
Romanism  hardly  exceed  the  number  of  those  who 
leave  it  in  order  to  resume  their  allegiance  to  the 
faith  of  their  fathers. 

3.  Protestant  missionary  effort  began  late.  In 
India  it  was  introduced  with  the  Dutch  conquest  in 
the  early  part  of  the  seventeenth  century.  But  the 
proselytizing  methods  of  the  Dutch  in  those  days 
savoured  too  much  of  the  Romish  inquisition  under 
the  Portuguese.  When  the  pressure  of  religious 
compulsion  by  the  civil  government  was  removed, 
consequent  upon  the  English  conquest  in  Ceylon  and 
India,  the  people  apostatized  in  a  body. 

{a)  It  was  not  until  the  truly  Christian  King, 
Frederick  IV.  of  Denmark,  took,  himself,  a  religious 


i:he  EFFORT  IN  INDIA      i6g 

interest  in  that  land  at  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  and  sent,  at  his  own  expense,  the  first  two 
Protestant  missionaries  to  Tranquebar  on  the  east 
coast,  that  really  consistent  Protestant  effort  for  the 
redemption  of  India  began. 

Zeigenbalg  and  Plutschau,  the  two  pioneers  who 
were  sent  to  Tranquebar,  arrived  in  1706.  They 
inaugurated  the  great  work  of  Protestant  Christianity 
for  the  spiritual  regeneration  of  India,  and  will 
always  find  an  honoured  place  among  the  heroes  of 
the  cross. 

Zeigenbalg  was  a  man  of  great  piety  and  of  intel- 
lectual resources.  He  died  in  17 19  after  a  most  suc- 
cessful service  of  unremitting  toil.  He  gathered 
hundreds  of  converts  into  the  Christian  fold,  estab- 
lished schools  and  erected  a  beautiful  church  edifice 
which  stands  today  as  the  oldest  Protestant  Mission 
Church  in  the  East.  Above  all,  he  felt  that  an  open 
Bible  in  the  vernacular  was  essential  to  the  conversion 
of  India;  and  he  therefore  gave  himself  to  the  trans- 
lation of  God's  Word.  He  was  not  able  to  complete 
this  work;  it  did  not  issue  from  the  press  until  1725. 
This  Tamil  version  of  the  Bible  was  the  first  transla- 
tion of  God's  Word  in  India  and  in  all  the  East;  and 
it  stands  today  as  a  monument  to  his  intelligent 
labours  and  to  those  of  his  worthy  successor,  Schultze. 
It  also  represents  the  beginning  of  a  new  era  of  mis- 
sionary effort  in  the  country.  The  Roman  Catholics, 
during  all  their  stay  in  that  land  have  done  nothing 
towards  giving  to  the  people  the  Bible  in  their  native 
tongue.  It  was  not  until  the  year  1857  that,  stirred 
by  Protestant  example,  they  published  their  first  and 
only  translation  of  any  portion  of  God's  Word  in  any 


I70         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

of  the  South  India  vernaculars — that  of  the  Tamil 
Gospels  and  the  Acts  of  the  Apostles. 

Schultze  spent  fifteen  years  in  Madras  and  left  a 
congregation  of  700  persons  there.  From  Tranque- 
bar,  as  a  centre,  missionary  effort  spread  extensively 
throughout  the  Madras  Presidency.  This  was  done 
through  German  missionaries  supported  mainly  by 
English  funds  furnished  by  the  Society  for  the  Propa- 
gation of  Christian  Knowledge. 

Perhaps  the  most  commanding  figure  connected 
with  that  work  and  century  was  Frederick  Schwartz, 
the  missionary  statesman  and  apostle  who  arrived  in 
India  in  1750.  His  efforts  extended  throughout  the 
Kingdom  of  Tanjore  and  even  to  the  Madura  and 
Tinnevelly  districts.  Through  all  these  regions  his 
power  was  felt  and,  in  company  with  a  few  other 
worthy  souls,  he  laboured  with  distinguished  faith, 
wisdom  and  heroism.  The  Protestant  Native  Church 
which  has  so  flourished  in  Tinnevelly  and  Madura 
found  its  origin  and  first  success  under  his  guidance. 
He  spent  forty-eight  years  in  unremitting  effort,  in- 
fluenced powerfully  all  missionaries  who  came  in 
contact  with  him,  and  passed  on  to  his  reward  in 
1798. 

Thus,  before  the  close  of  the  last  century,  at  least 
50,000  Tamilians  had  been  baptized  in  connection 
with  this  Protestant  effort.  When  we  bear  in  mind 
the  fewness  of  the  agents,  and  the  very  limited 
tract  of  country  which  they  occupied,  it  is  a  matter 
of  considerable  astonishment  that  so  many  converts 
were  every  year  baptized  in  the  various  missions. 
In  Tranquebar  alone,  in  nineteen  years,  there  were 
19,340  persons  baptized;  and  during  the  century,  the 


rhe  EFFORT  IN  INDIA      171 

entire  number  of  converts  was  nearly,  if  not  quite, 
double  this  amount.  In  Madras,  as  many  as  4,000 
natives  were  received  into  the  Christian  church.  The 
Cuddalore  Mission,  notwithstanding  its  great  troubles, 
yielded  between  1,000  and  2,000  converts;  the  Trich- 
inopoly  Mission,  more  than  2,000;  the  Tanjore  Mis- 
sion, about  1,500;  and  the  mission  established  at 
Palamcottah  in  Tinnevelly  in  1785,  also  a  few. 

It  is  impossible  to  know  exactly  the  number  of  the 
native  Protestant  Christian  churches  and  congrega- 
tions existing  at  the  beginning  of  the  last  century,  or 
the  number  of  the  Christian  community  in  the  Presi- 
dency. 

Probably  only  a  few  thousand  remained  to  await 
the  dawn  of  the  new  century. 

From  Madras,  down  South  as  far  as  Palamcottah, 
infant  Christian  communities  existed.  But  they  did 
not  largely  flourish  until  new  missionary  societies 
were  organized  and  a  larger  force  of  missionary 
workers  were  sent  to  strengthen  and  push  forward 
the  work  established. 

And  it  is  very  unfortunate  that,  with  much  good, 
not  a  little  evil  was  found  among  these  few  Chris- 
tians whom  the  eighteenth  century  bestowed  upon 
the  nineteenth.  Mr.  Sherring  truly  says,— ''That 
many  of  the  converts  were  sincere  and  genuine,  we 
cannot  doubt.  Yet  it  is  certain  that  the  permission 
to  retain  their  caste  customs  and  prejudices  throws 
considerable  suspicion  on  the  spiritual  work  accom- 
plished among  them.  The  Danish  and  German  mis- 
sionaries soon  perceived  the  formidable  influence  of 
caste  as  an  opponent  of  the  Gospel,  unless  they  were 
ready,  like  the  Roman  Catholics,  to  enlist  it  on  their 


172         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

side,  by  permitting  it  to  be  retained  in  the  Christian 
churches  established  by  them.  They  chose  to  make 
caste  a  friend  rather  than  an  enemy.  In  doing  this, 
however,  while  they  made  their  path  easier,  they 
sacrificed  their  principles.  They  admitted  an  element 
into  their  midst  which  acted  on  the  Christian  com- 
munity like  poison."  And  this  poison  is  still  exer- 
cising a  potent  influence  upon  a  no  small  portion  of 
the  Protestant  Native  Church  in  South  India.  A  bad 
beginning  in  this  respect  has  facilitated  an  evil  con- 
tinuance. 

The  closing  years  of  the  eighteenth  century  carry 
our  interest  to  North  India  and  are  notable  as  the  be- 
ginning of  the  organized  missionary  effort  of  the  Eng- 
lish people  for  the  redemption  of  India. 

{b)  The  Anglo-Saxons  seem  to  have  been  the  last 
among  Christian  peoples  to  awake  from  the  lethargy 
of  a  self-centred,  self-seeking  Christianity,  and  to 
enter  upon  the  great  missionary  campaign  for  the 
conquest  of  the  world  for  Christ.  It  is  true  that  the 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  received 
its  first  charter  in  1701.  But  for  more  than  a  century 
of  its  history  it  did  not  concern  itself  about  carrying 
the  Gospel  to  the  heathen  races.  It  seems  strange 
that,  up  to  that  time,  both  the  Protestant  clergy  and 
laymen  of  Great  Britain  and  America  felt  little  or  none 
of  that  sense  of  obligation  for  the  conversion  of  the 
non-Christian  world  to  Christ  which  has  now  become 
so  universal  a  conviction  and  a  passion  among  them. 

In  the  work  of  rousing  the  English  to  this  grand 
world-wide  enterprise  William  Carey  acquired  well- 
earned  distinction.  Though  of  humble  origin  and 
wanting  in  early  training,  his  spiritual  vision   and 


jifl^^^H^^H 

,  *  v^|H|BB^hB^B 

■i^^.        °^'<^H^^^B 

'  PlH^lmn 

'^iS* 

^*"^^^m 

■^r 

*'"''^H| 

1 

fp^^-:  v-^-!^*^^ 

IBI 

'c  ■■:'^^' 

fl 

^ 

^ipH 

'4 

ii^'Fiii 

riie  EFFORT  IN  INDIA      173 

contagious  enthusiasm  made  him  a  leader  of  power. 
Thus,  God  chose  a  cobbler  youth  to  lead  the  Christian 
hosts  of  England  out  of  the  bondage  of  narrow  re- 
ligious sympathies  into  a  world-wide  conquest  of 
souls  for  Christ.  Carey's  efforts  in  England  were 
unremitting,  and  the  contagion  of  his  burning  al- 
truism spread  everywhere  notwithstanding  much 
opposition  and  contempt  met  from  a  certain  class. 

His  early  efforts  at  home  were  supplemented  by  a 
missionary  life  in  India  so  remarkable  in  its  self-de- 
nying devotion,  so  characterized  by  distinguished 
ability  and  linguistic  genius,  and  so  notable  in  wisdom 
and  persistence  under  the  greatest  difficulties  that  his 
name  will  ever  stand  preeminent  in  all  the  annals  of 
missionary  effort. 

But  it  was  very  sad  that,  while  Christian  England 
was  waking  out  of  her  lethargy  to  her  spiritual  op- 
portunities and  duties  in  India,  commercial  England 
threw  herself  across  the  path  and  denied  the  right  of 
Christian  service  for  the  Christless  people  of  that 
land. 

Carey  found  no  welcome  or  even  permission  to 
work  in  British  India.  He  was  compelled  to  flee 
from  the  territory  of  the  East  India  Company  and  to 
find  refuge  and  opportunity  for  missionary  work 
under  the  more  enlightened  and  progressive  rule  of 
the  Danish  in  Serampore.  It  was  from  that  place 
that  he  directed  his  missionary  effort  in  India  and 
found  the  long-sought  opportunity  to  serve  his 
Master  in  that  heathen  land.  It  was  there  that,  in 
company  with  his  worthy  associates,  Marshman  and 
Ward,  he  built  up  a  Christian  community  and  trans- 
lated and  published  the  Word  of  God  into  many 


174         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

oriental  tongues.  The  success  and  achievements  of 
Carey  would  be  regarded  as  phenomenal  in  the  case 
of  any  missionary.  But  when  it  is  remembered  that 
he  was  compelled  to  support  himself  and  his  mis- 
sion, in  considerable  part,  through  his  income  in 
secular  pursuits;  when  it  is  also  known  that  his  wife 
was,  for  many  years,  a  wreck,  mentally,  and  there- 
fore a  source  of  great  care  and  anxiety  to  him,  how 
wonderful  must  have  been  his  faith,  his  persistence, 
his  intellectual  endowments  and  his  love  for  the 
people  of  India  to  have  led  him  to  accomplish  so 
much  for  the  cause  of  Christ  in  that  great  land! 

Carey's  life  and  example  wrought  wonders  in  its 
influence  upon  others  of  his  countrymen.  Among  a 
noble  band  of  followers  is  found  the  devout  and 
pious  enthusiast  Henry  Martyn  who,  during  his  too 
brief  career  as  a  chaplain  in  India,  found  time  to  com- 
mend his  Master  and  His  Faith  to  many  in  that  land 
of  darkness  and  death.  Martyn  was  a  worthy  ex- 
ample of  what  a  consecrated  chaplain  can  do  for  the 
Christian  cause,  beyond  the  strict  performance  of  his 
priestly  functions — an  example  which  was  perhaps 
never  more  needed  in  India  than  at  present  when  so 
wide  a  gulf  is  found  between  the  ordinary  chaplain 
and  the  missionary. 

As  a  result  of  this  missionary  revival  there  also 
came  into  existence  not  a  few  hopeful,  vigorous 
missionary  societies.  First  among  them  was  the 
London  Missionary  Society  which  entered,  in  1795, 
upon  its  grand  career  of  world-wide  endeavour. 
After  that,  was  organized  (in  1799)  the  Church  Mis- 
sionary Society.  Both  of  these  organizations,  at  the 
opening  of  the  new  century,  began  to  put  forth  their 


T:he  EFFORT  IN  INDIA      175 

best  energies  for  the  salvation  of  India.  Then  a  host 
of  other  lesser,  but  equally  determined,  agencies  fol- 
lowed in  their  train  and  made  India  their  special  field 
of  activity. 

In  addition  to  distinctively  English  societies  there 
were  organized,  also,  separate  Scotch,  Irish  and  Welsh 
movements  for  work  in  the  land — each  nation  vying 
with  every  other  in  the  work  of  upbuilding  there  the 
Kingdom  of  Christ. 

Among  the  British  societies  the  Church  Missionary 
Society,  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gos- 
pel, and  the  London  Missionary  Society  have  done 
most  extensive  service  and  have  been  markedly 
blessed  with  growing  communities  and  effective 
organizations  for  work  among  the  people. 

Each  nationality  also  represents  a  separate  type  of 
life  and  activity.  The  English  missions,  for  instance, 
are  strong  in  their  wise  organization  and  effective  ad- 
ministration. The  Scotch,  ori'the  other  hand,  have  a 
genius  for  thoroughness  in  everything,  especially  in 
educational  work.  The  names  of  the  greatest  mis- 
sionary educators  of  India  are,  almost  without  ex- 
ception, Scotch.  They  have  dug  deep  foundations 
and  have  aimed,  by  means  of  their  splendid  schools, 
to  excel  in  the  work  of  directing  the  thought  of,  and 
imparting  a  new  philosophy  to,  the  rising  generation 
of  Indians.  If  their  results  have  not  been  statistically 
impressive,  so  far  as  converts  are  concerned,  they 
have  had  preeminence  in  the  task  of  transforming 
the  thought  and  of  leavening  the  institutions  of  the 
land.  For  instance,  Alexander  Duff — the  father  of  the 
higher  educational  work  of  missions,  a  man  mighty 
in  thought  and  kindled  with  a  sublime  faith  and  a 


176         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

Christian  enthusiasm — did  not  number  many  converts 
as  the  result  of  his  college  training  of  the  young. 
But  every  convert  under  him  counted  for  something 
in  the  Christian  Church.  It  is  said  that,  of  the  forty- 
eight  educated  men  who  were  won  to  Christ  through 
his  mission  in  1871,  nine  were  ministers,  ten  were 
catechists,  seventeen  were  professors  and  high-grade 
teachers,  eight,  government  servants  of  the  higher 
grade,  and  four,  assistant  surgeons  and  doctors. 
Similar  to  the  work  of  Dr.  Duff  in  Calcutta  was  the 
work  of  Dr.  Wilson  in  Bombay  and  is  the  effort  of 
Dr.  Miller,  at  present,  in  Madras.  Mission  results 
must  be  weighed  as  well  as  measured. 

As  a  contrast  to  this  thought-directing  and  leaven- 
ing work  of  the  Scottish  Churches  may  be  placed  the 
work  of  the  Salvation  Army  in  India.  This  unique 
organization  invaded  that  great  land  nearly  a  quarter 
of  a  century  ago.  Believing  that  existing  missionary 
organizations  and  methods  of  work  were  too  digni- 
fied, staid  and  inadequate  for  best  results,  the  leaders 
of  this  movement  introduced  its  cyclone  methods 
and  proposed  to  take  India  by  storm.  They  began  by 
insisting  upon  all  their  European  officers  conforming 
to  native  custom,  in  clothing  and  diet.  Their  appeal 
was  simple  even  if  their  work  was  narrow  and  noisy. 
It  was  a  call  upon  all  to  immediate  repentance  and  to 
a  belief  upon  the  Lord,  Christ,  for  salvation.  They 
ignored  the  Sacraments  of  the  Church  and,  for  a  while, 
even  emulated  the  Hindus  by  daubing  their  religious 
emblems  upon  their  foreheads. 

But  their  appeal  fell  flat  upon  a  people  who  had  no 
Christian  heritage  or  training;  and  their  genuine 
forms  of  self-denial  and  methods  of  adaptation,  in- 


T:he  EFFORT  IN  INDIA      177 

stead  of  producing  popular  admiration  and  attach- 
ment, soon  produced  pity  and  even  contempt.  If 
the  officers  were  men  of  spiritual  ardour  and  were 
kindled  with  a  passion  for  the  salvation  of  India, 
they  were  also,  on  the  whole,  untrained  and  uncul- 
tured. They  not  only  disobeyed  their  Lord  in  neg- 
lecting the  Sacraments,  they  did  not  and  could  not 
understand  the  people  and  their  religion.  By  ignoring 
all  sanitary  rules  many  of  them  vainly  sacrificed  their 
lives  to  the  Cause. 

Considering  the  money  expended,  the  precious 
lives  sacrificed  and  the  efforts  exhausted  during  this 
quarter  of  a  century  the  results  achieved  by  this 
organization  have  been  painfully,  though  not  unex- 
pectedly, small.  It  clearly  illustrates  and  emphasizes 
the  fact  that  India  is  not  to  be  won  for  Christ  by  a 
campaign  of  ignorance  and  noise,  however  largely  it 
may  be  enforced  by  altruistic  fervour.  And  it  should 
not  be  forgotten  that  the  army  officers  have  not 
scrupled  to  enter  territory  already  occupied  by  Chris- 
tian missions,  to  cause  unspeakable  annoyance  to 
workers  on  the  field,  and  to  fill  up  more  than  half  the 
ranks  of  their  ** soldiers"  with  people  who  already 
claimed  allegiance  to  Christ  in  connection  with  well- 
established  missions. 

{c)  Australia  has  recently  fallen  into  the  ranks  of 
those  who  carry  the  Gospel  to  India.  One  Faith 
Mission  in  Western  India  is  almost  entirely  conducted 
by  men  and  women  of  that  country.  A  Baptist 
Mission  also  is  maintained  by  them  there.  And  not 
a  few  of  the  strong  members  of  British  missions  are 
Australians;  these,  with  their  work,  are  supported 
by  the  churches  which  sent  them  forth. 


178         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

(d)  Protestant  Europe  has  not  been  conspicuous 
for  its  missionary  effort.  And  yet  India  owes  a  large 
debt  to  the  Christians  of  the  Netherlands,  Germany, 
Denmark  and  Sweden  for  their  effort  to  present  to 
them  the  message  of  life.  As  we  have  seen,  the 
Dutch,  upon  their  first  conquest  in  the  East,  sought 
to  introduce  their  faith  among  the  people.  The  first 
Protestant  missionaries  who  gave  their  life  for  India 
were  Danes.  They  were  supported  by  the  private 
resources  of  their  own  king.  In  early  times  Danish 
settlements  in  India  were  the  refuge  of  Gospel  mes- 
sengers to  that  land.  They  protected  them  against 
the  unchristian  narrowness  and  persecution  of  the 
East  India  Company.  The  Danish  settlement  of 
Serampore  gave  the  only  opportunity  to  Carey  and 
his  associates  for  a  home  and  for  missionary  work. 

The  Bible  was  the  first  time  translated  into  an 
Indian  vernacular  (Tamil)  by  our  Continental  breth- 
ren, and  the  first  vernacular  Christian  books  were 
printed  in  Germany. 

At  the  present  time  they  are  giving  themselves 
more  fully  than  ever  before  to  the  work  of  India's 
redemption.  There  are  eight  Continental  Missions 
conducted  there,  some  of  which  have  achieved  con- 
siderable success.  The  Leipzig  Evangelical  Lutheran 
Mission  has  fallen  heir  to  the  first  Danish  mission 
established  at  Tranquebar.  It  has  at  present  a  strong 
force  of  workers,  and  they  are  scattered  through 
several  Districts  in  South  India,  are  doing  solid  and 
substantial  work  and  have  gathered  a  numerous 
Christian  community. 

Perhaps  the  most  successful  of  these  European 
missions  is  the  Basil  German  Evangelical   Mission, 


The  EFFORT  IN  INDIA      179 

which  is  established  upon  the  southwestern  coast. 
It  is  well  organized,  has  a  thorough  educational  sys- 
tem and  is  embued  with  a  strong  evangelistic  spirit. 
Connected  with  this  mission  is  an  extensive  and 
prosperous  Industrial  Mission.  With  the  German 
spirit  of  thoroughness  they  have  developed,  more 
largely  than  any  other  mission  in  India,  the  industrial 
department,  until  it  is  now  well  established  and  fully 
self-supporting. 

All  these  European  missions  are  systematic  and 
painstaking  in  the  work  which  they  are  carrying  for- 
ward. In  some  respects  this  gives  them  well-earned 
distinction.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  they  labour 
under  a  serious  disability  in  having  to  acquire  the 
English  as  well  as  the  vernacular  of  the  people  after 
arriving  in  the  land.  They  are  also  extremely  con- 
servative, not  to  say  antiquated,  in  their  methods; 
and  they  have  not,  in  most  cases,  learned  to  hate  and 
antagonize,  as  they  should,  the  terrible  caste  system 
of  the  country. 

(e)  The  American  participation  in  the  Christian  con- 
quest of  India  began  early.  It  was  the  perusal  of  the 
Life  of  David  Brainerd,  the  American  missionary 
saint,  which  kindled  the  missionary  zeal  of  William 
Carey  in  England.  On  the  other  hand,  the  Life  of 
Carey  had  no  small  influence,  at  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  in  giving  irresistible  impulse  and 
defmiteness  of  purpose  to  that  noble  band  of  Ameri- 
can missionary  pioneers — Mills  and  Nott,  Newell  and 
Judson.  And  their  consecrated  enthusiasm  and  pur- 
pose to  labour  for  the  conversion  of  the  heathen  na- 
tions, in  its  turn,  led,  in  1810,  to  the  founding  of  the 
first  foreign  missionary  society  in  the  United  States — 


i8o         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

the  American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign 
Missions. 

The  first  field  chosen  by  this  society  for  its  activity 
was  India.  It  represented  to  them  both  the  greatest 
need  and  the  best  opportunity  for  Christian  work. 

Thus  the  first  organized  attempt  of  the  Christian 
Church  of  America  to  reach  and  to  redeem  the 
heathen  world  was  directed  towards  the  land  of  the 
Vedas.  And  the  first  band  of  missionaries  which 
that,  now  venerable,  Board  sent  forth  into  the  harvest 
went,  with  eager  anticipation  and  earnest  prayer,  to 
that  ancient  and  benighted  people. 

But  how  great  must  have  been  their  disappoint- 
ment and  sorrow,  upon  their  arrival,  to  be  refused 
permission  by  the  Honourable  East  India  Company  to 
land  in  Calcutta.  With  sad  hearts  they  turned  their 
faces  towards  Bombay,  hoping  that  God  would  open 
the  way  to  their  entering  upon  missionary  service 
there.  This  again  was  denied  them  and  they  fled  to 
Cochin,  but  were  seized  and  brought  back  to  Bombay 
to  await  the  arrival  of  an  American  ship  to  convey 
them  home.  It  was  just  then  that  their  prayer  was 
answered  and  the  Lord  of  Hosts  came  to  their  succour 
and  opened  wide  the  door  of  that  land  to  the  mis- 
sionary labourer.  A  new  charter  was  granted  by  the 
British  Parliament  to  the  East  India  Company.  In 
that,  insistence  was  made  that  the  Christian  mission- 
ary be  permitted  to  prosecute  his  work  for  the 
heathen  of  that  land  unmolested.  This  charter 
was  granted  in  1813,  while  the  Americans  were  still 
held  in  durance  in  Bombay. 

It  was  the  Magna Charta  of  missions  for  India;  and 
from  that  time  until  this  the  Christian  missionary  has 


rhe  EFFORT  IN  INDIA      i8i 

found  permission  to  preach  his  message  in  that  land. 
He  has  also  enjoyed  there  ample  protection  in  the  ex- 
ercise of  all  his  religious  duties  and  work  as  a  mes- 
senger of  Christ.  By  this  charter  missions  received 
State  sanction  to  obey  heaven's  command,  and  mis- 
sionaries of  all  lands  came  to  enjoy,  on  British  terri- 
tory in  the  East,  the  undisputed  right  to  carry  the 
gospel  of  our  Lord  to  heathen  people. 

The  impatient  little  band  of  missionaries  were 
therefore  released  at  Bombay;  and  from  that  day 
until  this  America  has  found  joy  in  her  effort  to 
convey  her  spiritual  blessings  to  that  land.  Adoni- 
ram  Judson,  having  become  a  Baptist,  was  directed 
by  Carey  to  Burma  where  he  laboured  for  many  years 
with  apostolic  zeal  and  with  distinguished  success. 
The  nearly  150,000  native  Christians  of  Burma  today 
owe  their  conversion  largely  to  Judson's  wise  initia- 
tive, resistless  energy,  grand  Christian  faith  and 
inspiring  example. 

Mills,  who  was  the  leader  in  the  early  band  of 
students  whose  zeal  led  to  the  organization  of  the 
American  Board,  found  his  field  of  service  on  the 
West  coast  of  Africa,  whence  also  he  was  early 
called  to  his  heavenly  reward. 

The  saintly  Harriet  Newell,  wife  of  another  mem- 
ber of  this  distinguished  company,  died  on  the  Isle 
of  France,  and  her  sorrowing  husband  returned  to 
Bombay  and  rejoined  his  brethren  Hall  and  Nott. 
These  three,  therefore,  were  the  founders  of  this  first 
American  Mission  in  India — now  called  the  American 
Mahratta  Mission.  Bombay,  Ahmednaggar  and 
Sholapur  are  its  principal  centres  of  work;  and  it 
covers  a  field  whose  population  is  between  three  and 


i82         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

four  millions.  It  has  had  distinguished  success  and 
has  gathered  the  largest  native  community  among 
the  Protestant  missions  of  Western  India. 

In  1834  the  same  society  established  its  South  India 
Mission  at  Madura.  This  was  an  offshoot  from  the 
Jaffna  Mission  which  was  founded  in  181 5  in  that 
northern  corner  of  Ceylon.  The  Madura  Mission  has 
prospered,  has  18,000  in  its  Christian  community, 
and  is  regarded  as  one  of  the  best  organized  missions 
in  the  country. 

In  1834  the  American  Presbyterians,  while  yet  con- 
nected with  the  American  Board,  established  in  the 
Northwest  their  large  and  successful  mission.  Its 
centres  of  work  are  Lahore,  Lodiana,  Futtegarh, 
Dera-Dun  and  Allahabad.  This  mission  has  done 
excellent  work  and  has  attained  high  eminence  among 
the  missions  of  North  India,  both  for  its  educational 
work,  its  leavening  influence  and  for  its  evangelistic 
zeal.  A  number  of  its  missionaries  suffered  martyr- 
dom during  the  terrible  Sepoy  Mutiny  of  1857.  It 
was  from  that  mission  that  the  first  call  to  universal 
prayer  for  the  conversion  of  the  world  was  sent 
forth.  And  thus  was  founded  the  Week  of  Prayer 
which  now  finds  such  general  observance  among 
Protestant  Christians. 

In  1836  the  Baptists  established  for  Telugu  people, 
on  the  southeastern  coast,  the  famous  "  Lone  Star 
Mission."  It  has  had  such  phenomenal  success  that, 
though  established  only  in  1840  in  a  purely  heathen 
field,  and  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  the  first 
twenty-five  years  of  its  efforts  were  barren  of  out- 
ward results,  it  is  to-day  by  far  the  largest  mission 
in  India,  having  53,790  communicants  and  a  com- 


rhe  EFFORT  IN  INDIA      183 

munity  of  200,0(X).     Its  chief  centres  of  work  are 
Ongole  and  Nellore. 

The  Rev.  Samuel  Day  was  sent  out  by  the  society 
in  1835  to  Chicacole,  but  in  1837  removed  to  Madras. 
After  three  years'  labour  there  he  resolved  to  establish 
a  mission  among  the  Telugu  people,  and  so  removed 
to  Nellore  and  commenced  work  there  in  March, 
1840.  The  unproductiveness  of  the  work  in  the  early 
history  was  such  that  the  abandonment  of  the  mis- 
sion was  several  times  under  consideration.  But  in 
1866  prosperity  dawned.  Later  followed  the  great 
accessions  which  have,  up  to  the  present,  continued 
in  greater  or  less  degree  and  which  have  been  on  a 
larger  scale  than  in  any  other  field  in  South  India. 
"  The  history  of  Christianity,  in  all  ages  and  coun- 
tries, shows  nothing  which  surpasses  the  later  years 
of  this  mission  in  spontaneous  extension,  in  rapidity 
of  progress,  in  genuineness  of  conversions,  in  sta- 
bility of  results  or  in  promise  for  the  future."  The 
church  organized  with  eight  members  by  Dr.  Clough 
at  Ongole  in  1867  numbers  now  its  thousands.  The 
great  famine  of  1877  presented  a  large  Christian  op- 
portunity which  was  eagerly  seized  by  Dr.  Clough, 
himself  a  civil  engineer,  in  the  conduct  of  large 
famine  relief  works  under  government  and  in  the 
Christian  instruction  of  many  thousands  who  laboured 
under  him.  This  itself  created  a  wonderful  move- 
ment which  has  been  marvellously  used  of  God  in  the 
conversion  of  the  people.  Nearly  all  of  these  con- 
verts have  come  from  the  lowest  class  of  society. 
But  at  present  the  higher  classes  are  beginning  to 
consider  the  claims  of  the  Gospel.  It  is  natural  that 
the  most  serious  problem  and  principal  concern  of 


i84         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

this  mission  has  been  to  keep  pace  with  the  move- 
ment, and  to  train  suitable  agents  for  the  guidance 
and  instruction  of  the  incoming  thousands.  It  has 
also  been  largely  blessed  in  this  line,  as  its  various 
and  growing  institutions  testify. 

As  the  Madura  Mission  was  the  daughter  of  the 
Jaffna  Mission  so  the  Madras  section  of  the  Madura 
Mission,  in  the  year  185 1,  became  the  mother  of  a 
vigorous  daughter.  For  the  members  of  the  Scudder 
family — a  family  famed  in  missionary  annals — were 
appointed  to  the  District  of  Arcot,  some  seventy 
miles  south  of  Madras,  and  there  began  a  work  under 
the  American  Dutch  Reformed  Church  which  has 
rapidly  grown  into  power  and  promise. 

In  the  year  1856  the  Methodists  of  America  entered 
upon  their  great  work  in  that  land.  With  their 
wonted  zeal  and  evangelistic  fervour  they  carried  for- 
ward a  vigorous  campaign  in  North  India.  They 
early  found  an  opening  among  the  outcaste  people 
as  the  Baptists  had  found  among  the  same  in  the 
South;  and  they  eagerly  entered  the  open  door  and 
vigorously  prosecuted  their  endeavours  for  that 
class.  Their  success  has  been  signal.  More  than 
100,000  people  have  been  gathered  into  their  Chris- 
tian community  and  an  equal  number  of  others  are 
desirous  to  place  themselves  under  their  spiritual  care 
and  guidance.  They  have  also  entered  seriously  into 
the  work  of  training  an  agency  and  of  educating  the 
densely  ignorant  members  of  their  community.  In 
addition  to  their  village  schools  they  have  a  large 
theological  and  normal  school,  besides  two  colleges, 
one  of  which  is  perhaps  the  best  college  for  women 
in  Northern  India,  if  not  in  the  East.     Their  work 


The  EFFORT  IN  INDIA      185 

has  now  spread  to  many  parts  of  the  land  and  even 
to  Burma  and  the  Straits  settlement.  They  have  also 
wisely  cultivated  the  press  and  the  publishing  de- 
partment as  an  important  auxiliary  in  their  work. 
In  this  department  they  are  perhaps  doing  more  than 
any  other  society  now  at  work  in  India. 

The  great  success  of  this  society  in  India  is  largely 
owing  to  the  wise  leadership  of  that  missionary 
statesman — Bishop  Thoburn.  I  doubt  whether  many 
other  missionaries,  if  indeed  any  other,  have  wrought 
more  for  the  redemption  of  that  people  than  this 
sturdy  American  of  ample  common- and  uncommon- 
sense,  of  wide  vision,  of  sublime  faith  and  of  mas- 
terful generalship. 

Several  divisions  of  the  American  Lutheran  com- 
munity have  also  wrought  much  for  India  and  are 
justly  proud  of  their  prosperous  missions,  especially 
in  South  India. 

In  like  manner  American  **  Faith  Missions,"  not  a 
few,  have  planted  the  banner  of  the  cross  in  that 
land  of  the  trident  and  are  prosecuting  their  mission 
and  proclaiming  their  message  with  singleness  of 
purpose  and  exemplary  zeal.  The  **  Christian  Al- 
liance "  is  the  most  pretentious  organization  of  this 
class  which  does  work  in  that  land.  Its  efforts  are 
chiefly  confined  to  the  Bombay  Presidency  where  it 
has  a  goodly  number  of  earnest  workers. 

Organizations  for  the  young— the  Y.  M.  C.  A.,  Y. 
W.  C.  A.,  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.,  S.  V.  M.,— while  they  are 
not  in  any  sense  distinctly  American,  are  nevertheless 
dominated  by  the  American  spirit  and  methods,  and 
are,  to  a  large  extent  under  the  guidance  of  American 
youth.     These  Christian  movements  are  doing  royal 


1 86         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

service  for  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  in  that  stronghold 
of  error.  They  bring  cheer  to  the  missionaries, 
youthful  inspiration  to  the  churches,  a  wide  oppor- 
tunity to  the  young  life  of  the  Christian  communities 
and  a  new  pace  to  all  the  messengers  of  Christ  in  the 
land.  The  Y.  M.  C.  A.  is  also  doing  an  excellent 
evangelistic  work  among  the  educated  non-Christian 
youth  of  India — a  work  that  is  appealing  mightily  to 
their  deepest  spiritual  instincts  and  is  impressing  them, 
as  nothing  else  does,  with  the  combined  sanity  and 
spirituality,  the  reasonableness  and  the  saving  power 
of  our  faith. 

I  must  also  allude  to  that  unique  American  Institu- 
tion—the Haskell-Barrows  lectureship — which  has 
already  done  no  small  good  to  the  educated  of  the 
land,  and  has  within  itself  the  possibility  of  largest 
blessing  to  the  country.  It  was  founded  in  connec- 
tion with  the  University  of  Chicago;  and  it  appoints 
and  sends  to  India  once  every  two  or  three  years  a 
distinguished  lecturer  to  present  the  excellence  of  our 
faith  in  its  philosophy  and  life  in  such  a  manner 
as  shall  best  commend  it  and  appeal  to  the  thought- 
ful non-Christians  of  the  Orient.  Every  effort  of 
this  kind  which  shall  emphasize  to  Hindus  the  har- 
mony of  Christian  truth  and  the  best  thinking  of  our 
age  and  shall  reveal  to  them  Christ  as  the  Redeemer 
and  Exemplar  of  our  race  and  as  the  only  "Name 
under  heaven  given  among  men  whereby  we  must 
be  saved,"  is  to  be  cordially  welcomed  among  God's 
best  forces  for  India's  redemption.  And  America  is 
to  be  congratulated  because  she  is  the  first  to  endow 
and  to  inaugurate  such  a  helpful  agency  for  the  glory 
of  God  and  the  salvation  of  India's  men  of  culture. 


The  EFFORT  IN  INDIA      187 

It  is  comforting  to  the  American  worker  in 
India  to  be  assured  that  the  modern  rulers  of  the  land 
are  amply  atoning  for  the  unchristian  and  rude  in- 
civility of  their  predecessors  in  office  ninety  years 
ago.  For  they  not  only  cordially  welcome  the 
Christian  worker  from  the  States;  they  also  reveal 
full  appreciation  of  his  labours,  render  him  every  pro- 
tection and  are  not  averse  to  praising  him  for  his  ar- 
duous endeavours.  Listen  to  the  words  of  Lord  Wen- 
lock,  while  Governor  of  Madras,— "Our  cousins  in 
America,"  he  says,  ''are  not,  as  we  are,  responsible 
for  the  welfare  of  a  very  large  number  of  the  human 
race;  but  seeing  our  difficulties  and  knowing  how 
much  there  is  to  do,  they  have  not  hesitated  to  put 
their  hands  into  their  pockets  to  assist  us  in  doing 
that  which  is  almost  impossible  for  any  government 
to  achieve  unassisted.  They  go  out  themselves,  their 
wives  and  their  sisters;  they  enter  into  all  parts  of 
the  country,  they  send  a  very  large  amount  of  money 
and  they  spend  their  time  and  their  health  in  pro- 
moting the  welfare  of  those  who  are  in  no  way 
connected  with  them.  ...  In  all  Districts  I 
find  our  American  cousins  joining  with  us  in  im- 
proving the  system  of  education  and  in  extending  it 
wherever  it  was  wanted.  To  their  efforts  we  owe 
a  very  great  deal.  It  must  be  recognized  that  their 
great  object  is  the  advancement  of  the  Christian  re- 
ligion." 

Lord  Harris,  the  Governor  of  Bombay,  a  little  more 
than  a  decade  ago,  also  said  publicly,  of  the  work  of 
the  American  Board  Mission  among  the  Maharat- 
tas,— "  I  do  not  think  I  can  too  prominently  say 
that  our  gratitude  towards  this  American  Mission  has 


i88         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

been  piling  up  and  piling  up  all  the  years  of  this 
century." 

(/)  Our  record  of  the  efforts  of  Christian  coun- 
tries in  behalf  of  India  were  not  complete  without  a 
reference  to  the  hearty  cooperation  of  Protestant 
Canada  in  this  work.  Several  missions  have  been 
established  there  by  Canadian  Baptists  and  Presby- 
terians; and  these  are  flourishing  and  are  adding 
daily  to  the  number  of  those  who  are  being  saved. 

Looking  at  the  whole  force  of  Protestant  Christian 
missions  in  that  land  today  we  are  impressed  with 
the  magnitude  of  its  organization,  work  and  success. 
Nearly  two  and  a  half  million  dollars  are  devoted  an- 
nually by  the  Christians  of  the  West  to  this  work  of 
saving  this  great  people  of  the  East.  It  is  a  great 
financial  investment,  but  not  to  be  compared  with  that 
of  the  thousands  of  choice  men  and  women  who  go 
forth  and  give  themselves  unto  death  that  they  might 
enable  Christ  to  see  of  the  travail  of  His  soul  and  be 
satisfied  among  the  millions  of  that  land. 

4.  Comparing  present  missionary  agency  and 
methods  in  India  with  those  ofpast  ages  it  maybe  well 
to  consider  the  differences  and  gather  therefrom  as- 
surance for  the  coming  of  the  Kingdom  of  our  Lord 
in  the  East.  These  differences  are  numerous  and 
radical.     I  need  only  refer  to  a  few  of  them : — 

{a)  The  spell  of  an  ecclesiastical,  and  the  glamour 
of  a  ceremonial,  Christianity  is  being  increasingly 
substituted  by  the  moral  and  spiritual  characteristics 
of  our  faith  in  that  land.  The  conversion  of  India  is 
less  and  less  regarded  by  Christian  workers  in  the 
land  as  a  change  from  the  ceremonial  and  ritual  of 
the  old,  to  those  of  the  new,  faith.     Ever  increasing 


The  EFFORT  IN  INDIA      189 

emphasis  is  given  to  the  fact  that  to  be  a  Christian  is 
to  live  the  Christ-Ufe  and  to  be  loyal  to  Him  in  all  the 
ethical  and  spiritual  teachings  of  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount.  And  these  missionary  workers  care  less  to 
touch  the  life  of  our  converts  on  the  surface  and 
more  to  grip  it  at  its  centre  and  to  transform  charac- 
ter. And  this  is  a  work  which  is  most  enduring  in 
its  results. 

(b)  Christian  workers  in  India  are  learning  mutual 
sympathy  and  appreciation  in  their  work.  Instead 
of  the  old  jealousies,  suspicions,  antipathies  and  mis- 
understandings of  the  past,  there  is  found  a  develop- 
ing sense  of  oneness,  of  fellowship,  of  comity,  amity 
and  mutual  helpfulness  among  the  missionaries  of 
that  land.  The  watchword  of  to-day  is  cooperation. 
The  distracting  spectacle  of  a  divided  Christianity,  of 
hated  and  mutually  hating  Christian  sects  in  a  heathen 
land  is  surely  passing  away  and  the  dawning  of  the 
day  of  peace  and  harmony  and  fellowship  in  Chris- 
tian work  is  upon  us.  And  India  will  enjoy  the 
wonderful  results  of  this. 

(c)  The  serious  mistakes  of  method  and  stand- 
point in  missions  of  former  centuries  are  now 
avoided.  The  compromise  which  they  made  with 
Hinduism  in  caste  and  in  other  matters  is  no  longer 
possible  in  Protestant  missions.  We  know,  as  they 
could  not,  the  irreconcilable  antagonism  of  caste  to 
Christianity. 

On  the  other  hand  we  know  Hinduism  and  other 
non-Christian  faiths  better  than  our  fathers  did.  We 
are  not  so  anxious  to  trace  all  these  back  to  Satanic 
origin.  We  are  learning  the  sympathies  as  well  as 
the  antipathies  of  religions.     The  translators  of  God'§ 


I90         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

Word  into  the  vernacular  of  India  two  centuries  and 
one  century  ago  largely  avoided  the  use  of  popular 
terms  because  they  were  popular  and  the  common 
vehicles  of  Hindu  thought,  which  (they  said)  was  of 
the  devil.  We  see  the  folly  of  such  an  avoidance 
and  the  need  of  using  and  rehabilitating  the  religious 
terminology  of  the  people  that  we  may  the  more 
surely  come  into  touch  with  them,  and  the  more 
easily  convey  to  them  the  deepest  truths  of  our  faith. 
Formerly,  missionaries  declined  to  use  the  music  of 
Hinduism  because  it  enriched  the  temple  services  and 
"was  of  the  devil."  Today  these  same  sweet  and 
plaintive  songs  are  wedded  to  beautiful  Christian 
hymns,  prepared  by  native  Christian  poets,  and  are 
the  appropriate  and  very  popular  vehicles  of  the  best 
Christian  thought  and  sentiment  to  Christian  and 
non-Christian  natives  alike. 

This  only  illustrates  the  fact  that  the  Christian  mes- 
sage and  work  are  finding  greater  power  over  the 
people  because  conveyed  to  them  in  more  intelligible 
terms.  It  can  come  home  to  them  in  their  common 
life  as  it  did  not  formerly. 

{d)  Educational  work  is  increasingly  utilized.  For- 
merly missionary  effort  was  mostly  the  work  of  the 
preacher — it  was  the  direct  Gospel  message  and  ap- 
peal. To  this  has  been  added  the  no  less  necessary, 
indeed  the  deeper,  work  of  transforming  the  thought 
of  the  land  and  of  introducing  everywhere  a  Chris- 
tian philosophy  and  a  process  of  thinking  which  will 
undermine  the  old  methods  and  foundations  of  Hin- 
duism. This  Christian  education,  which  is  now 
being  imparted  in  India  to  nearly  half  a  million  youth 
in  our  schools,  is  a  leavening  power  the  extent  of 


p^ 


rhe  EFFORT  IN  INDIA      191 

whose  influence  no  one  can  compute.  And  it  carries 
Within  itself  untold  possibilities  for  the  conversion  of 
India.  By  these  institutions,  Sir  William  Muir  truly 
tells  us,  "the  country  has  been  inoculated  with 
Christian  sentiment." 

Sir  Charles  U.  Atchison  declares  that,  in  his  judg- 
ment, "the  value  of  educational  missionary  institu- 
tions, in  the  present  transition  state  of  Indian  opinion, 
can  hardly  be  overrated.  It  is  more  than  ever  the 
duty  of  the  Church  to  go  forward  in  its  educational 
policy." 

In  other  ways  also,  medical  and  industrial,  Chris- 
tian work  has  broadened  out  so  that  it  reaches  the 
people  at  all  points  and  lifts  up  the  Christian  com- 
munity into  a  self-respecting  power  which  will  abide 
and  grow  in  influence. 

In  modern  missions  the  Word  of  God,  translated 
into  all  the  vernaculars  of  the  people,  has  become  the 
mightiest  instrument  of  progress  in  Christian  life,  and 
the  most  ubiquitous  messenger  of  Christian  truth. 
The  Bible  was  almost  a  sealed  book  to  the  people  of 
India  when  William  Carey  arrived  at  the  close  of  the 
eighteenth  century.  The  Roman  Catholic  and  Syrian 
Christians  had  done  nothing  to  bring  this  blessing  to 
the  people.  The  Danish  mission,  as  we  have  seen, 
had  translated  it  into  the  Tamil  tongue.  And  that 
was  all.  How  wonderful  the  work  of  the  last  cen- 
tury whereby  this  blessed  Word  has  been  translated 
into  every  language  and  many  dialects  of  polyglot 
India.  Among  its  300,000,000  inhabitants  there  are 
few  who  cannot  find  God's  own  Word  translated 
into  their  own  speech,  published  and  brought  to  their 
doors.    Can  any  one  realize  how  great  a  leverage  this 


192         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

is  in  the  work  of  overturning  that  land  religiously 
and  in  bringing  Christ  into  the  life  of  India? 

Thus  the  history  of  Christian  effort  in  India  has 
not  been  without  its  many  lessons.  And  these  les- 
sons have  brought  wisdom  and,  with  that  wisdom, 
confidence  and  growing  efficiency  to  the  Christian 
forces  now  at  work  in  the  land. 

For  this  reason  the  progress  of  the  Kingdom  of 
Christ  in  India  will,  during  the  present  century,  be 
much  more  marked  and  its  triumphs  more  signal  than 
in  the  past  centuries.  And  for  this  well-founded 
assurance  we  thank  God. 


THE  MISSIONARY 

THE  present  missionary  force  in  India  repre- 
sents, according  to  the  **  Indian  Missionary 
Directory,"  a  body  of  nearly  2,500  men  and 
women  who  have  been  sent  from  Europe,  America 
and  Australia  to  instruct  the  people  in  the  blessings 
of  our  faith.  This  body  is  constantly  increasing  in 
numbers  and  is  sent  forth  and  maintained  by  seventy- 
seven  societies.  They  are  a  noble  band  of  Chris- 
tian workers,  of  no  less  consecration  and  faith  than 
those  in  the  past,  and  of  the  highest  training  and 
broadest  culture  ever  known. 

The  missionary  furnishes  to  the  home  churches  the 
chief  interest  in  missionary  work  and  is  the  link 
which  connects  them  and  the  home  society  with  their 
enterprise  abroad. 

His  work  at  present  is  not  what  it  once  was  in 
India.  In  earlier  days  the  missionary  had  to  be  a 
man  of  all  works;  every  form  of  missionary  en- 
deavour came  under  his  direction.  In  mission  work, 
as  in  every  other  line  of  effort,  specialization  has  be- 
come a  feature  and  a  necessity.  There  must  be  men 
of  as  varied  talents  and  special  lines  of  training  as 
there  are  departments  of  missionary  work.  But 
every  missionary  should  be  preeminently,  a  man. 


193 


194         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

He  should  be  a  man  of  large  calibre.  There  is  much 
danger  lest  the  church  become  indifferent  to  this  mat- 
ter, and  send  to  the  mission  field  inferior  men— men 
who  would  be  unable  to  stem  the  tide  of  competi- 
tion and  attain  success  at  home.  If  a  man  is  not 
qualified  for  success  in  the  home  land,  there  is  little 
chance  of  his  attaining  much  usefulness  upon  the 
mission  field.  And  an  inferior  class  of  men  sent  out 
to  heathen  lands  to  represent,  and  to  conduct  the 
work  of,  the  home  church  must  necessarily  react 
upon  the  church  through  want  of  success,  discourage- 
ment and  defeat  in  the  missionary  enterprise.  A 
church  whose  missionary  representatives  abroad  are 
wanting  in  fitness  and  power  cannot  long  continue 
to  be  a  strenuous  missionary  church;  it  will  lack  fuel 
to  keep  burning  the  fire  of  missionary  enthusiasm. 

And  in  speaking  of  the  missionary  I  include  the 
lady  missionary.  Missionary  ladies  today  are  more 
numerous  in  India  than  are  the  men.  More  than 
a  thousand  single  ladies  have  given  themselves  to  the 
missionary  life  and  are  labouring  with  conspicuous 
success  in  that  land.  They  meet  almost  the  same 
conditions  of  life  and  require  the  same  qualifications 
for  success  as  their  brother  missionaries  do.  Of 
course,  in  certain  details,  they  differ;  but  into  such 
matters  I  cannot  enter  at  present. 

I  desire  to  enumerate  the  qualifications  of  a  mis- 
sionary for  highest  usefulness  in  India  at  the  present 
time. 

I.    Physical  Fitness. 

Is  a  man  physically  qualified  to  be  sent  out  into 
missionary  work  ?    For  an  enterprise  like  this,  where 


"The  MISSIONARY  195 

a  man  practically  enlists  for  life,  it  is  of  much  con- 
cern to  the  Society  which  appoints  him,  and  of  great 
importance  to  the  work  which  he  is  to  take  up  that 
he  be  possessed  of  good  health.  This  is  preemi- 
nently true  in  the  case  of  all  those  who  are  appointed 
to  India.  The  climate  of  India  is  trying,  though  it  is 
neither  dangerous  nor  as  fruitful  in  difficulty,  as 
many  believe.  It  is  not  necessary  that  a  man  who  is 
sent  out  to  India  be  possessed  of  robust  health.  In- 
deed, I  have  often  noticed  that  the  most  robust  are 
the  most  likely  to  yield,  through  ill-health,  to  climatic 
influences  there.  This  is  chiefly  owing  to  the  fact 
that  such  people  are  usually  careless  in  all  things  per- 
taining to  health.  They  place  too  much  reliance  upon 
their  stock  of  vigour,  and  ignore,  until  too  late,  the  in- 
sidious influences  of  the  ^tropical  sun.  We  ask  not 
for  a  man  of  great  bodily  vigour;  but  he  should  be 
possessed  of  organic  soundness.  Such  a  man  may 
stand  the  climate  longer  and  work  with  fewer  inter- 
ruptions than  his  more  vigorous  brother;  simply  be- 
cause he  knows  that  his  health  is  delicate  and  ap- 
preciates the  necessity  of  taking  suitable  care  of  him- 
self. On  the  whole,  my  experience  has  led  me  to 
two  convictions  about  this  matter;  the  first  is  that 
the  less  robust  and  more  careful  missionaries  stand 
well  that  tropical  climate;  and  in  the  second  place, 
that  to  those  who  do  take  adequate  care  of  them- 
selves, the  climate  of  India  is  neither  dangerous  nor 
insanitary. 

There  are,  however,  certain  precautions  which  mis- 
sionaries should  take  in  that  land  in  order  to  insure 
the  proper  degree  of  efficient  service.  Annual  pe- 
riods of  rest  at  hill  **  sanitaria  "  are  not  only  desirable, 


196         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

but  are  necessary,  in  order  to  preserve  the  health  and 
add  to  one's  usefulness.  Many  of  the  best  missions 
in  India,  at  present,  not  only  arrange  that  their  mis- 
sionaries take  this  rest,  but  demand  it  of  them.  They 
have  learned  by  experience  that  it  is  a  reckless  waste 
of  precious  power  for  their  missionaries  to  continue 
working  upon  the  hot  plains  until  compelled  by  a 
break-down  to  seek  rest  and  restoration.  It  is  much 
easier,  in  the  tropics,  to  preserve,  than  to  restore, 
health.  Many  a  noble  service  has  been  cut  short, 
and  many  a  useful  career  has  been  spoiled  by  reck- 
lessly continuing  work  for  a  few  years  without  rest 
or  change  in  that  land.  The  youngest  and  the  least 
organized  missions,  and  consequently  those  which 
have  not  perfected  arrangements  for  the  rest  and 
health  of  their  members,  are  those  which  have  the 
largest  number  of  break-downs,  and  which  lose  most 
in  labour  and  money  on  account  of  the  ill  health  of 
their  missionaries. 

Visits  to  the  home  land  every  eight  or  ten  years  are 
also  desirable,  not  only  for  restoration  of  physical 
vigour,  but  also,  for  a  recementing  of  domestic  and 
social  ties  and  for  a  renewed  contact  with  and  a  new 
inspiration  from  the  Church  of  God  in  the  West. 
Life  in  all  its  aspects  has  a  tendency  to  degenerate  in 
the  tropics;  and  one  needs  occasional  returns  to 
northern  climes  for  the  blessings  which  they  alone 
can  give. 

Shall  the  missionary  indulge  in  recreations  ?  Among 
missionaries  themselves  this  is  a  much  debated  ques- 
tion. Some  maintain  that  all  forms  of  recreation  are 
unworthy  of  a  man  engaged  in  this  holy  calling.  I 
do  not  agree  with  them.     I  have  seen  many  mission- 


The  MISSIONARY  197 

aries  helped  in  their  work  by  such  recreation.  There 
are  some  men  and  women  who  have  no  taste  for  such 
diversions.  To  them  they  may  have  little  value  or 
usefulness.  But,  to  the  ordinary  missionary  who  has 
done  a  hard  day's  work  an  hour's  diversion  in  tennis, 
badminton  or  golf  has  often  been  a  godsend.  It  has 
brought  relief  to  the  tense  nerves  and  a  new  lease  of 
life  to  the  organs  of  the  body.  In  a  similar  way  an  in- 
terest in  carpentry,  in  geology,  photography,  or  any 
other  set  study,  brings  to  the  jaded  mind  a  diversion 
and  a  new  lease  of  power,  and  prepares  one  to  go  back 
to  his  work  with  fresh  pleasure  and  renewed  en- 
thusiasm. 

One  should  carefully  avoid  entering  inordinately 
into  any  such  recreation.  There  is  danger,  and 
sometimes  a  serious  danger,  that  such  lines  of  diver- 
sion may  be  carried  to  an  excess,  and  the  mind  and 
heart  be  thereby  robbed  of,  rather  than  strengthened 
for,  one's  life-work. 

2.     His  Methods  of  Life. 

There  are  questions  of  importance  which  come 
under  this  consideration  and  which  are  much  dis- 
cussed at  the  present  time.  It  is  asked,  for  instance, 
whether  a  man  should  go  out  as  a  married,  or  as  a 
single,  missionary.  A  few  years  ago  the  American 
Board  showed  very  decided  preference  for  the  mar- 
ried missionary,  and  hesitated  to  send,  except  under 
special  circumstances,  bachelors.  Missionary  socie- 
ties connected  with  ritualistic  churches,  on  the  other 
hand,  have  given  preference,  almost  exclusive  prefer- 
ence, to  the  unmarried  missionary.  At  the  present 
time  there  is  a  growing  feeling,  in  all  Protestant  de- 


198         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

nominations,  that  there  is  a  demand,  and  a  specially 
appropriate  field  of  usefulness,  both  for  the  married 
and  the  unmarried  missionary.  The  supreme  argu- 
ment in  favour  of  the  married  mah  is  connected  with 
the  home  influence  which  he  establishes  and  which, 
in  itself,  is  a  great  blessing  to  the  heathen  people 
among  whom  he  lives.  The  light  and  beauty  of  a 
Western  Christian  home  is  always  a  mighty  testi- 
mony, not  only  to  the  Gospel,  but  to  the  civilization 
of  the  West  which  is  a  direct  product  of  the  Gospel. 
Through  the  wife  is  also  conserved  the  health  of  the 
husband  who  is  thereby  rendered  more  efficient. 
And  to  his  activity  is  added  her  equally  beneficent 
one  among  the  women  of  their  charge.  The  mis- 
sionary home  constitutes  a  testimony  and  a  power 
which  no  mission  can  be  without. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  is  a  large  and  an  attractive 
field  of  usefulness  which  can  best  be  worked  by  the 
unmarried  man  and  woman.  There  are  forms  of  ac- 
tivity and  lines  of  self-denial  which  can  best  be  met 
by  those  who  are  not  tied  down  by  home  life  and 
who  are  more  free  to  meet  the  rapidly  changing 
necessities  of  certain  departments  of  work.  It  is 
also  true  that  the  unmarried  life  represents  to  the 
Orient  that  type  of  self-denial  which  has  always  been 
associated,  in  their  mind,  with  the  highest  degree  of 
religious  attainment;  and  it  may,  for  this  very  reason, 
be  in  the  line  of  highest  influence  upon  the  people  of 
the  land. 

So,  married  and  unmarried  life  have  in  the  mission 
field  today  their  recognized  place,  advantage,  and 
sphere  of  influence.  And,  working  together  they 
will  exemplify  to  the  people  those  forms  of  religious 


The  MISSIONARY  199 

life  and  activity  wiiich  bring  highest  glory  to  our 
cause. 

Another  question  pertains  to  the  missionary's  daily 
life.  Shall  he  conform  to  the  ordinary  habits  of  life 
practiced  by  the  people  among  whom  he  lives .?  In 
other  words,  shall  the  missionary  fro^n  the  West  con- 
form to  native  customs  in  food  and  dress  .^  It  is  not 
possible  to  give  a  categorical  reply  to  this  question. 
A  country  should  be  studied  and  the  ideals  of  the 
people  thoroughly  investigated  by  the  missionary  be- 
fore he  decides  upon  any  course  of  action  in  this 
matter.  There  are  countries  where  such  conformity 
would  be  desirable  and  would  add  considerably  to 
the  missionary's  influence  and  success.  China  is 
such  a  country;  and  many  of  the  missionaries  in  that 
land  find  it  to  their  interest,  and  to  the  interest  of  the 
work,  to  adopt  the  Chinese  costume,  cue  and  all. 
They  thus  cease  to  appear  foreign  and  peculiar  in  a 
land  where  to  be  a  foreigner  is  to  be  hated,  or  at 
least  to  be  unloved  and  distrusted  by  the  people. 

The  same  thing  has  been  tried  in  India,  not  only  in 
clothing,  but  also  to  a  large  extent  in  food.  Many  a 
missionary,  feeling  how  great  a  barrier  his  foreign 
habits  created  between  him  and  the  people,  and 
inspired  by  a  passionate  desire  to  come  near  to  them 
in  order  that  he  might  bless  them,  has  divested  him- 
self of  European  clothing,  adopted  the  native  costume 
(at  least  so  far  as  it  was  possible  for  him  to  do  so) 
and  has  confined  himself  to  native  food.  But  I  have 
never  known  of  any  Western  missionary  who  has 
continued  this  method  for  a  long  time  and  declared  it 
a  success.  One  of  the  most  pathetic  instances  on 
record  is  that  of  the  famous  Jesuit  missionary  Abbe 


200         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

Du  Bois,  who,  after  a  careful  study  of  the  situation, 
donned  the  yellow  garb  of  the  Hindu  monk  and 
became  practically  a  Hindu  to  the  Hindus,  spending 
most  of  his  time  in  travelling  from  town  to  town  and 
living  strictly,  both  as  regards  food,  clothing,  and 
general  habits,  as  an  ordinary  Hindu  in  order  that  he 
might  gain  close  access  to  the  people  and  thus  win 
many  converts  to  the  Roman  Catholic  Church.  For 
many  years,  in  a  distinguished  missionary  career,  he 
followed  this  method  of  life.  But  was  it  a  success  ? 
In  his  ''Life  and  Letters,"  written  at  the  close  of  his 
missionary  life,  he  frankly  confesses  that  that  method 
of  approach  to  the  people  had  proved  an  entire 
failure;  that  he  had  not  thereby  gained  any  added 
influence  over  them  or  had  become  better  able  to  lead 
them  into  the  Christian  fold.  He  maintains  that,  so 
far  as  this  style  of  living  was  concerned,  he  had 
accomplished  absolutely  nothing  for  India.  I  have 
known  of  ardent  and  able  Protestant  missionaries 
also  who  have  tried  the  same  method,  with  the  same 
result,  and  have  returned  to  their  Western  costume 
and  food. 

The  Salvation  Army,  at  the  beginning  of  its  work 
a  few  years  ago  in  India,  compelled  all  its  officers 
fully  to  adopt  Indian  methods  of  life.  This  was 
enforced,  in  its  rigour,  only  for  a  short  time;  but  for 
a  sufficiently  long  period  to  reveal  its  disastrous  effects 
upon  the  health  and  life  of  its  European  officers. 
Their  system  has  been  considerably  modified,  but  is 
still  unsatisfactory  on  the  score  of  health  and  use- 
fulness. 

It  is  now  recognized  by  all  that  the  differences 
between  the  natives  of  tropical  India  and  the  inhabit- 


rhe  MISSIONARY  201 

ants  of  northern  climes,  and  between  the  tropical 
clime  and  that  of  the  temperate  zone,  are  so  great  that 
we  of  the  Northwest  cannot,  with  wisdom  and  im- 
punity, adopt  the  manners  of  life  of  that  people. 
There  are  differences  so  great,  both  in  clothing  and 
in  food,  that  it  would  require  generations  of  accli- 
matization before  the  change  could  be  wisely  adopted 
in  its  entirety.  It  is  indeed  desirable  that  the  Euro- 
pean or  American,  who  goes  to  live  in  the  tropics, 
should  change  somewhat  his  diet  so  as  to  meet  the 
changed  requirements  of  his  system  there.  But,  to 
adopt  the  native  diet  is  a  very  different  thing,  and 
will  be  conducive  neither  to  nourishment  nor  diges- 
tion. 

There  is,  however,  another  question  of  more  im- 
portance than  this  and  one  which  seriously  confronted 
the  Abbe  Du  Bois.  What  is  gained  in  accessibility 
to,  and  power  over,  the  people  by  adopting  these 
native  habits  }  It  should  be  remembered  that  West- 
erners have  lived  in  India  so  long  as  to  have  become 
perfectly  well  known  to  all  the  people.  Moreover, 
the  Western  garb  and  habits  of  life  represent  to  the 
Hindu  honour,  influence,  power,  and  culture.  In  his 
heart  of  hearts  the  Hindu  highly  respects,  and  is 
always  ready  to  listen  to,  that  man  of  the  West  who 
is  true  to  himself  and  stands  before  him  for  what  he 
is  and  for  what  he  teaches.  The  ordinary  Hindu  is 
not  stupid  enough  to  be  deceived  as  to  a  man's 
nationality  or  true  position  in  life  because  of  his 
change  of  clothing  or  food.  Indeed,  to  nine-tenths 
of  all  Hindus,  such  a  change  of  habits,  on  the  part  of 
a  European,  would  mean  nothing  else  than  that  he 
had  lost  caste  among  his  own  people  and  had  de- 


202         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

scended  to  a  much  lower  social  scale  than  formerly. 
It  is  well  to  remember  in  India  that  the  way  of  access 
to  the  people  is  opened  to  the  Westerner  not  through 
such  outer  changes  of  life,  but  through  true  mani- 
festations of  kindness  and  love  to  them.  They  are 
quick  to  understand  the  language  of  love  and  would 
never  confound  it  with  outer  posings  of  men  who  are 
thereby  seeking  to  win  their  favour. 

The  Rev.  Geo.  Bowen,  of  Bombay,  was  perhaps  one 
of  the  most  self-denying  of  all  the  missionaries  who 
lived  in  that  land.  He  reduced  the  annual  expenses 
of  his  living  to  $150.00.  It  was  in  this  path  of  self- 
denial  that  he  sought  to  find  greatest  usefulness  as  a 
missionary.  Of  this  life  he  said  at  one  time  :  '*  I 
have  not  been  wholly  disappointed,  but  I  have  not 
been  successful  enough  to  make  me  feel  like  advising 
any  one  else  to  follow  my  example.  And  yet  I  have 
not  so  completely  failed  as  to  make  me  regret  the 
course  which  I  have  pursued.  I  have  discovered  that 
the  gulf  which  separates  the  people  of  this  country  is 
not  a  social  one  at  all;  it  is  simply  the  great  impass- 
able gulf  which  separates  between  the  religion  of 
Christ  and  an  unbelieving  world." 

It  may  be  laid  down  as  a  general  principle  of  life  in 
that  land  that  the  missionary  should  adopt  that 
method  of  life  which,  while  consistent  with  severe 
economy,  shall  best  conduce  to  health  and  efficiency 
of  service  among  the  people. 

And  in  this  connection  it  should  also  be  stated  that 
there  are  many  things  which  are  perfectly  natural  and 
wise  and  desirable  in  the  line  of  self  help  in  America 
which  should  be  unnecessary  and  unwise  in  such  a 
land  as  India.     It  is  a  safe  rule  adopted  by  the  best 


rhe  MISSIONARY  203 

missionary  workers  in  that  land  that  a  European 
should  never  do  those  things  which  can  easily  be 
done  by  natives  in  the  matter  of  domestic  service. 
It  would  be  folly  for  a  missionary  man  or  woman  to 
spend  much  time  in  household  work  and  in  similar 
duties  when  there  are  many  people  around  whose 
special  province  that  is,  and  who  can  do  it  for  one- 
thirtieth  his  own  wage,  and  who  can  thus  release  him 
for  the  more  serious  and  higher  duties  of  life. 

Thus,  in  all  these  matters,  one  should  consider  fully 
the  whole  situation — the  character  of  the  climate,  of 
the  people,  and  the  conditions  of  the  best  health  and 
efficiency  and  greatest  usefulness  of  the  missionary 
worker. 

The  question  as  to  the  length  of  the  missionary's 
service  is  an  important  one.  Shall  he  enter  upon  it 
for  a  definite  term  or  shall  he  consider  it  his  life 
work  }  In  most  missions  and  societies  the  missionary 
service  is  considered  a  life  service.  It  is  a  service  so 
peculiar  in  its  training  and  in  its  direction;  it  tends  in 
many  ways  so  to  lead  a  man  away  from  the  atmos- 
phere of  work  and  direction  of  activity  found  at 
home,  that  it  is  better  for  him,  who  undertakes  it  at 
all,  to  consecrate  himself  to  it  as  the  great  mission  of 
his  life.  It  is  also  a  fact  that  the  longer  he  continues 
in  it,  the  more  ability  and  aptness  he  acquires  for 
that  special  work. 

There  are,  of  course,  some  who  will  find  that  they 
have  mistaken  their  vocation  and  that  missionary 
work  does  not  suit  them  ;  or,  rather,  that  they  are 
not  adapted  to  it.  Such  people  should  make  no  de- 
lay in  returning  home  and  in  seeking  a  more  con- 
genial life  work. 


204         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

3.    The  Intellectual  Ability  and  Educational  Train- 
ing OF  THE  Missionary. 

Whatever  may  have  been  the  case  in  the  past,  the 
day  certainly  has  come  when  India  demands  only 
men  and  women  of  wide  intelligence  and  thorough 
training  as  missionaries.  Whether  we  regard  it  as  a 
land  of  profound  philosophy,  and  of  a  marvellously 
organized  religion;  or  whether  we  consider  the  in- 
tellectual power  of  many  of  the  natives  of  that  land, 
the  missionary  must  be  amply  prepared,  through 
educational  and  intellectual  equipment,  to  meet  them. 
One  of  the  saddest  sights  seen  in  India  is  a  missionary 
who  has  absolutely  no  interest  in  the  religious  phi- 
losophy of  the  land,  and  who  is  not  able  to  appreciate 
the  mutual  relations  of  that  faith  and  his  own  and 
who  is  unequal  to  the  task  of  discussing  intelligently 
with,  and  of  convincing  in,  matters  of  faith,  the 
educated  natives  of  the  country.  Such  a  man  ap- 
parently did  not  know  that  he  would  meet  in  that 
land  many  university  graduates  who  are  still  believers 
in,  and  defenders  of,  their  ancestral  faith.  So  he 
finds  himself  unable  to  stand  before  such  men  and 
to  give  reason  for  the  faith  that  is  in  him  so  as  to 
satisfy  their  earnest,  intelligent  inquiries,  or  to  quiet 
their  keen  opposition. 

It  should  also  be  remembered  that,  in  addition  to 
this  growing  host  of  natives  of  university  training 
and  culture,  there  is  a  considerable  number  of  Euro- 
peans in  government  service  and  in  other  depart- 
ments. They  come  into  constant  touch  with  the 
missionary,  and  guage  his  culture  and  capacity,  and 
are  sure  to  judge  of  the  missionary  work  according 
to  their  estimate  of  his  training  and  qualification. 


The  MISSIONARY  205 

lii  such  a  land,  and  facing  such  conditions,  and  in 
the  presence  of  such  people,  the  missionary  should 
be  a  man  of  thorough  training  and  culture,  and 
should  have  a  mind  which  has  ample  command  of 
the  treasures  of  knowledge  which  it  has  acquired. 
He  should  also  be  able  to  find  interest  in  various 
branches  of  learning.  As  I  said  above,  he  should,  in 
some  respects,  be  a  man  of  special  training  with 
definite  and  high  qualifications  for  the  special  depart- 
ment upon  which  he  has  entered;  but  he  should  also 
be  not  narrow,  but  of  broad  sympathies  and  of  a 
growing  interest  in  the  general  realm  of  culture.  He 
should  continue  to  cultivate  his  student  tastes,  and 
should  grow  constantly  in  ability  and  aptitude  to 
grapple  with  the  mighty  problems  of  the  land.  He 
should  be  able  not  only  to  understand  the  many 
aspects  of  Hinduism  and  of  Buddhism,  which  has 
entered  so  largely  into  the  Hindu  faith,  but  he  must 
also  know  considerable  about  Mohammedanism,  since 
it  is  held  by  one-fifth  of  the  population  of  that  land. 

It  is  well  that  he  be  thoroughly  grounded  in  Chris- 
tian doctrine  before  he  enters  upon  his  missionary 
duties.  I  have  known  men  to  enter  the  mission  field 
who  had  not  clear  views  and  definite  convictions 
concerning  some  of  the  most  essential  Christian  doc- 
trines; with  the  consequence  that  they  drifted  away 
from  their  moorings  and  had  to  recast  their  faith, 
under  adverse  circumstances,  on  the  field. 

The  mission  field  is  no  place  for  a  man  to  readjust 
his  faith  and  to  discover  that  his  religious  affiliations 
are  not  what  they  ought  to  be. 

It  is  not  a  question  whether  a  man's  theology  is  of 
the  conservative,  or  of  the  progressive,  type.     Both 


2o6         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

types  may  be  needed.  It  is  largely  a  question 
whether  he  has  grasped  clearly  and  with  conviction 
any  doctrine — whether  he  has  thought  for  himself 
and  appropriated  any  system  of  truth.  Or,  I  should 
say,  whether  any  sort  of  theology  has  gripped  him 
in  its  power.  Bishop  Thoburn  has  well  said  that 
"the  young  missionary  should  have  a  clear  and  well- 
grounded  theology  before  going  abroad.  His  views 
of  vital  theological  truth  should  be  clear  and  settled. 
The  Christian  Church  of  America  cannot  afford  to 
export  doubts  or  even  religious  speculation  to  foreign 
fields.  The  people  of  India,  and  I  may  add  of  other 
lands,  are  abundantly  able  to  provide  all  the  doubts 
and  all  the  unprofitable  speculation  that  any  church 
will  care  to  contend  with;  and  one  important  quali- 
fication of  the  missionary  should  be  a  positive  faith 
as  opposed  to  doubt,  and  a  clear  system  of  living 
truth  as  opposed  to  profitless  speculation."  Above 
all,  the  missionary  should  have  a  working  faith  in  the 
gospel — not  a  half-grounded  conviction.  There  may 
be  a  place  at  home  for  the  unsettled  mind;  the  mis- 
sion field  is  not  for  such.  In  India,  especially,  while 
there  is  ample  room  and  abundant  opportunity  and 
inducement  for  progress  in  thought  and  development 
in  doctrinal  construction,  there  is  no  place  for  de- 
structive doubts  and  mental  unsettlement.  Positive 
teaching  and  not  interrogations  and  destructive  doubts 
should  characterize  the  missionary.  Give  us  a  man 
who  knows  something  and  is  inspired  with  convic- 
tions. For,  it  should  be  remembered,  the  missionary 
is  preeminently  an  instructor.  He  must  give  himself 
to  the  work  of  establishing  others  in  living,  satisfy- 
ing, saving  truth.     He  is  to  instruct  the  people,  as  a 


The  MISSIONARY  207 

preacher,  in  the  way  of  salvation.  He  is  also  called 
upon  to  furnish  a  working  equipment  of  truth  to 
pastors,  preachers  and  teachers.  He  should  be  con- 
versant with  the  Bible  and  with  the  various  theories 
of  interpretation.  He  should  be  possessed  of  a  clear 
system  of  theology  and  should  understand  the  best 
methods  and  principles  of  Christian  work. 

For  the  attaining  of  all  this,  the  missionary  must 
continue  as  an  earnest  student,  he  must  maintain 
upon  the  field  thorough  habits  of  study.  His  mis- 
sionary life,  itself,  should  be  to  him,  not  only  an  in- 
terpreter of  what  he  formerly  studied,  but  an  incite- 
ment to  further  regular  study.  Many  temptations 
overtake  the  missionary  to  intellectual  indolence  as 
well  as  to  intellectual  dissipation.  He  is  in  danger, 
under  the  pressure  of  other  interesting  work  and  dis- 
tractions, either  not  to  read  anything  very  seriously 
or  to  read  in  a  haphazard,  desultory  way.  The  latter 
is  specially  a  dangerous  habit  on  the  mission  field. 
The  missionary  needs  not  only  to  cultivate  habits  of 
study  and  to  devote  certain  hours  daily,  so  far  as  pos- 
sible, to  that  habit;  he  should,  preeminently,  keep 
before  him  some  definite  aim  or  ideal  towards  which 
all  his  reading  should  be  directed.  If  he  be  specially 
a  preacher,  he  should  conscientiously  and  thoroughly 
prepare  his  sermons  as  if  he  were  to  preach  to  the 
most  cultured  audiences;  or,  if  he  instruct  his  agents, 
he  should  make  previous,  elaborate  preparation  for 
the  same. 

He  should  take  an  intelligent  interest  in,  and  make 
a  thorough  study  of,  the  people,  their  social  and  re- 
ligious customs,  their  economic  conditions,  their  edu- 
cational efforts,  their  history, — these  and  many  other 


2o8         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

studies  will  furnish  abundant  and  abounding  interest 
to  the  thoughtful  missionary  and  will  add  to  his 
power  in  his  work.  In  all  these  respects,  no  people 
on  earth  are  more  interesting  than  those  of  India. 
And  for  successful  spiritual  work  among  them  the 
missionary  needs  to  study  these  side  issues  more  than 
he  would,  perhaps,  among  any  other  people. 

He  will  find  it  of  much  help  if  he  is  apt  at  acquiring 
language.  A  good  and  usable  knowledge  of  the  ver- 
nacular of  the  people  is  a  most  important  avenue  of 
access  to  their  mind  and  heart.  The  acquiring  of  a 
living  language  is  a  very  different  thing  from  the 
study  of  a  dead  language.  A  man  may  be  a  success 
in  the  one  and  a  failure  in  the  other.  A  good  ear  is 
of  paramount  importance  in  a  first-class  facility  for 
acquiring  and  using  a  modern  vernacular. 

I  would  not  say  that  a  man  who  has  not  a  good 
command  of  the  vernacular  of  a  people  cannot  be  to 
them  a  good  missionary;  for  a  few  of  the  best  mis- 
sionaries I  know,  speak  the  vernacular  wretchedly. 
But  I  do  emphasize  the  fact  that  proficiency  here  is  of 
prime  importance  and  I  would  also  add  that  it  should 
be  the  first  work  of  a  missionary  after  entering  his 
field.  To  dawdle  with  the  language  the  first  year,  is, 
generally  speaking,  to  fail  in  acquiring  it  at  all. 

Should  a  young  man,  who  intends  to  become  a 
missionary,  receive  a  special  preparatory  training  for 
missionary  work .?  Yes,  to  a  certain  extent.  I  heartily 
approve  of  all  recent  courses  established  in  theological 
institutions  with  a  view  to  training  their  students  in 
missionary  principles  and  literature.  And  I  would 
that  these  courses  were  much  enlarged  so  as  to  cor- 
respond with  the  relative  importance  of  the  mission- 


rhe  MISSIONARY  209 

ary  work.  Beyond  all  this,  I  believe  that  every  stu- 
dent, who  intends  to  become  a  missionary,  should 
spend  time  during  his  last  year  or  two  as  a  student  in 
special  preparation  for  his  work  and  field.  For  in- 
stance, it  were  a  great  help  to  him  who  is  to  become 
a  missionary  in  India  that  he  study  seriously  the 
Sanskrit  language  and  Hindu  philosophy.  These  two 
would  give  him  an  important  start  upon  his  mission- 
ary career  and,  probably,  furnish  him  with  initial 
taste  for  that  larger  equipment  which  is  essential  to 
the  great  missionary.  It  is  of  course  understood  that 
the  modern  science  of  Comparative  Religion  has  al- 
ready had  his  attention  in  the  general  course  of  study. 
Too  much  emphasis  cannot  be  placed  upon  the  study 
of  this  science  as  an  aid  to  the  modern  missionary. 

I  would  also  urge  here  the  importance  of  each  mis- 
sionary, so  far  as  his  tastes  and  ability  permit,  pre- 
paring himself  for  the  work  of  enriching  the  Christian 
literature  of  the  field  and  country  of  his  choice.  In 
India  this  is  becoming  a  matter,  not  only  of  growing, 
but  also  of  paramount,  importance.  In  the  past,  mis- 
sionaries have  been  too  much  engrossed  with  the 
other  departments  of  work  to  give  themselves  to  the 
production  of  tracts  and  books.  Much  more  must  be 
done  in  this  line  in  the  future.  Every  year  adds  to 
the  need  for,  and  the  influence  of,  a  worthy  literary 
effort  expressed  in  the  various  vernaculars  of  India. 
The  growing  host  of  readers  in  the  Christian  com- 
munities and  among  the  non-Christians  is  a  loud  cry 
for  missionary  consecration  to  this  specific  work. 

There  is  not  one  possession  or  element  of  power 
connected  with  a  thorough  education  and  high  culture 
which  will  not  become  available  and  most  useful  in 


2IO         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

that  interesting  land,  and  which  will  not  be  trans- 
muted into  power  for  the  elevation  and  redemption 
of  that  people. 

4.    Spiritual  Qualifications. 

It  would  hardly  seem  necessary  to  speak  on  this 
subject.  It  must  be  everywhere  understood  that  a 
life  of  spiritual  power  is,  and  must  ever  remain,  the 
first  requisite  of  the  missionary.  And  yet,  I  fear  that 
the  missionary  force  of  today  reveals  more  serious 
delinquency  at  this  point  than  at  any  other.  If  mis- 
sionaries were  asked,  wherein  lies  the  chief  hindrance 
to  their  work,  I  believe  they  would,  all  but  unani- 
mously, refer  to  their  want  of  spiritual  power.  Not 
that  they  are  more  defective  in  this  respect  than  are 
the  ministers  at  home.  They  are  a  noble  band  of 
consecrated  men  and  women.  But  they  greatly  need, 
and  bemoan  their  need  of,  a  growing  spiritual  endow- 
ment, the  possession  of  which  would  give  to  them  a 
new  joy,  and,  to  the  people,  an  inexhaustible  gift  of 
life,  and  to  the  missionary  work  a  power  hitherto  un- 
known. 

A  man  should  not  go  out  as  a  foreign  missionary 
unless  he  has  a  definite  call  from  God  to  go.  It  must 
be  laid  so  strongly  upon  his  heart  that  he  feels  the 
necessity  of  going  forth  unto  the  heathen.  There 
must  be  a  constraining  power  and  a  felt  conviction 
within,  that  in  the  mission  field  alone  can  he  find  rest 
and  peace  and  power. 

The  missionary  should  be  a  man  of  pronounced 
and  positive  spirituality— a  man  who  loves  the  Word 
of  God,  who  finds  meditation  in  it  sweet,  and  who 
finds  relief,  strength  and  joy  in  frequent  daily  prayer. 


The  MISSIONARY  21 1 

The  depressing  influences  which  beset  his  spiritual 
life  are  many.  The  all-pervasive,  chilling  influence 
of  heathenism,  and  its  dead  and  deadening  ceremo- 
nialism tend  to  exercise  an  increasing  power  over 
him.  He  will  not,  at  first,  realize  this  influence;  but 
as  an  insidious  and  an  ever  swelling  tide  of  evil  it 
will  come  into  his  soul,  unless  he  is  well  guarded  and 
daily  fortified  against  it  by  frequent  communion  with 
God.  In  India  the  hardening  influence  of  the  all-sur- 
rounding heathenism  is  as  subtle  as  it  is  potent  in  its 
influence  upon  the  life  of  any  Christian  worker  and 
needs  to  be  overcome  by  constant  spiritual  culture. 

The  life  of  the  European  Christians  who  reside  in 
that  country  is  so  far  from  being  Christlike  and  is  so 
wanting  in  these  spiritual  traits  which  should  charac- 
terize an  earnest  Christian,  that  the  missionary  con- 
stantly has  to  guard  himself  against  its  influence  upon 
himself. 

The  loneliness  of  the  missionary — his  frequent  and 
long-continued  absence  from  those  means  of  grace 
which  so  largely  minister  to  the  spiritual  strength  of 
a  pastor  in  this  country — is  something  deeply  felt. 
Few  men  realize  the  extent  of  the  spiritual  helps 
which  the  Christian  society  of  America  renders  to  the 
aspiring  life  of  a  man  of  God.  In  his  loneliness,  in  the 
far-oflf  land,  the  missionary  feels  its  absence  keenly. 

Moreover,  all  the  native  Christians  of  the  com- 
munity of  which  he  is  the  official  head  look  up  to 
him  for  inspiration.  Is  he  wanting  in  faith,  hopeful- 
ness and  cheer;  is  he  depressed  and  discouraged;  is 
he  lacking  in  the  power  of  prayer  and  of  sweet  com- 
munion with  God }  It  is  marvellous  how  quickly 
this  frame  of  mind  is  transmitted  from  him  to  the 


212         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

people  of  his  charge.  The  pastors,  catechists  and 
other  mission  agents  of  his  field  all  look  to  him  for 
their  ideal  and  seek  to  draw  from  him  their  inspiration 
in  spiritual  life.  Is  he  down;  then  they  are  down 
with  him.  In  coldness  as  in  spiritual  ardour  they 
faithfully  reflect  his  life  and  temper.  It  is,  indeed, 
true  that  rnany  of  these  live  spiritual  lives  which  bring 
inspiration  and  spiritual  joy  to  him.  The  simplicity 
and  earnestness  of  the  faith  of  most  of  the  native 
Christians  is  beautiful.  Still,  in  many  respects,  he 
finds  the  community  a  heavy  spiritual  drain  upon 
him;  and,  if  he  is  to  maintain  himself  as  a  worthy 
leader  in  the  higher  Christian  life,  he  must  live  con- 
stantly with  God  and  find  daily  strength  in  Him. 

In  India,  specially,  there  are  needed  a  few  definite 
spiritual  gifts  which  I  desire  to  emphasize  and  which 
a  missionary  should  aim  to  cultivate. 

The  first  in  order,  if  not  in  importance,  is  patience. 
To  us  of  the  West  the  Orient  seems  preeminently 
slow.  To  them  of  the  East  we  of  the  West  rush 
everything  unduly  and  are  the  victims  of  im- 
patience. There  is  much  truth  in  that  homely  skit  of 
Kipling's: 

"  It  is  bad  for  the  Christian's  peace  of  mind 
To  hustle  the  Aryan  brown ; 
For  the  Christian  riles  but  the  Aryan  smiles. 
And  it  weareth  the  Christian  down. 

"  And  the  end  of  the  fight  is  a  tombstone  white, 
With  the  name  of  the  late  deceased ; 
And  the  epitaph  drear,  a  fool  lies  here 
Who  tried  to  hustle  the  East." 

The  ordinary  Hindu  will  endure  the  white  man's  im- 


The  MISSIONARY  213 

patience,  and  he  and  the  native  Christian  will  submit 
to  the  same  weakness  on  the  part  of  the  missionary. 
But  they  fail  to  understand  it;  and  the  missionary's 
power  with  them  is  very  largely  impaired  by  the 
manifestation  of  this  evil  spirit.  Even  if  impatience 
were  ever,  anywhere,  a  virtue,  in  India  it  is  always 
an  unmixed  evil  and  should  be  guarded  against. 
The  warning  is  the  more  needed  because  the  tropical 
climate  itself  is  a  very  bad  irritant  to  the  nervous 
system.  Among  the  Hindus  patience  is  regarded  the 
supreme  virtue  of  God  and  of  man;  and  it  should 
adorn  every  missionary  who  seeks  to  be  their  leader. 

Humility  also  is  a  grace  which  needs  much  culti- 
vation by  the  missionary.  He  has  constant  tempta- 
tion to  pride.  The  sin  of  masterfulness  is  naturally 
his  besetting  sin;  for  his  influence  over  his  people 
and  his  control  in  the  direction  of  his  work  gradually 
grow  sweet  to  him  and  develop,  if  he  is  not  very 
careful,  into  an  imperiousness  of  will  which  is  neither 
pleasant  to  those  who  come  in  contact  with  him,  nor 
consistent  with  the  golden  grace  of  humility,  nor  in 
any  sense  pleasing  to  God. 

Love — that  essence  of  divine  character — needs  pre- 
eminent guarding,  encouragement  and  development 
on  the  part  of  the  missionary.  There  is  so  much  that 
is  unlovely  and  unlovable  all  about  him,  so  little  to 
attract  and  draw  out  his  tender  emotions  that  he 
needs  to  drink  freely  from  the  fountain  of  love  above; 
or  he  will  degenerate  very  easily  into  a  hard,  cold, 
unsympathetic,  cynical  missionary — a  frame  of  mind 
which  will  utterly  disqualify  him  for  any  joy  or  power 
in  his  work.  One  of  the  best  missionaries  1  have 
known  used  to  pray  very  frequently — **0  Lord,  save 


214         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

me  from  the  sin  of  despising  this  people."  It  is  a 
prayer  which  every  missionary  may  find  it  necessary 
to  offer  frequently.  True  Christian  love  is  none  the 
less  necessary,  yea  the  more  necessary  on  the  mission 
field,  because  the  missionary  lives  among  people  who 
are  not  kindred  in  blood  to  himself. 

Then  he  needs  also  a  large  gift  of  faith  and  of 
hope.  The  smallness  of  the  Christian  Church  in  the 
midst  of  a  dense  mass  of  heathenism;  the  apparent 
inadequacy  of  earthly  means  to  convert  that  great 
people  to  Christ;  the  slowness  of  progress  and  the 
fewness  of  results — all  these  tend  to  depress  and  dis- 
courage the  worker.  And  he  needs  to  offer  for  him- 
self, as  for  his  people,  the  prayer  which  Elisha  offered 
in  behalf  of  the  young  man, — "O  Lord,  I  pray  thee 
open  his  eyes  that  he  may  see.  And  the  Lord 
opened  the  eyes  of  the  young  man  and  he  saw  and 
behold  the  mountain  was  full  of  chariots  of  fire  round 
about  Elisha." 

Spiritual  power,  in  all  its  forms,  is  not  only  greatly 
needed  by  the  missionary,  it  is  also  highly  appreciated 
by  the  people  who  are  always  ready  to  be  led  by  it. 
I  believe  that  the  people  in  the  East  are  much  more 
amenable  to  this  influence  and  much  more  ready  to 
follow  spiritual  guidance  than  are  the  people  of  our 
own  land.  And  this,  in  itself,  is  an  added  reason  for 
deep  spirituality  in  the  missionary. 

5.    The  Missionary's  Attitude  Towards  the  Non- 
Christian  World. 

This  attitude  is  one  of  considerable  importance  to 
the  missionary  because  it  furnishes  largely  the  motive 
of  his  life  work.     Before  one  goes  out  as  a  missionary 


T:he  MISSIONARY  215 

he  should  acquire  some  definite  and  sound  views  as 
to  the  condition  of  the  non-Christians  who  constitute 
three-fourths  of  our  race.  This  means  that  he  must 
decide  as  to  his  missionary  motive, — what  motive 
power  shall  impel  him  to  leave  his  native  land  and  go 
to  live  among  a  benighted  people  surrounded  by  a 
thousand  disadvantages. 

Since  the  organization  of  our  missionary  societies 
— less  than  a  century  ago — there  has  been  an  im- 
portant change  of  emphasis  in  the  matter  of  mis- 
sionary motives.  The  progress,  1  might  almost  say 
revolution,  in  theology  has  worked  towards  this 
change.  The  recent  discovery  of  new  sciences,  and 
the  utilization  of  the  wonderful  modern  means  of 
communication  whereby  a  new  knowledge  of  non- 
Christian  peoples  has  been  made  possible  to  us,  has 
affected  our  consideration  of  the  whole  problem  of 
missionary  work  and  has  especially  modified  the 
missionary  motive.  Dr.  W.  N.  Clark,  in  his  admir- 
able book  on  Christian  Missions,  discusses  fully  this 
question.  "The  difference,"  he  says,  ** between  our 
conception  of  man  today  and  that  of  a  century  ago 
is  mainly  not  that  something  true  has  fallen  out  of  it, 
though  that  may  be  the  fact  with  many  minds:  it  is 
rather  that  immeasurably  much  that  is  true  has  been 
added  to  it.  Unquestionably  our  conception  of  man 
is  still  incomplete,  unbalanced  and  incorrect,  but  it 
certainly  has  been  altered  within  the  century  by  the 
addition  of  much  that  must  remain  in  any  true  con- 
ception. Our  knowledge  must  have  experienced 
true  and  legitimate  growth  and  from  our  present 
conception  of  the  human  world  we  can  never  go 
back  to  that  which  our  fathers  held  when  they  began 


2i6         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

the  work  of  modern  missions  .  .  .  our  thought 
concerning  our  fellow-men  contains  elements  of  truth 
and  justice  that  our  fathers  knew  nothing  of.  The 
best  Christian  feeling  towards  the  heathen  world 
today  is  far  more  true,  righteous,  sympathetic, 
Christlike,  than  the  feelings  of  those  who  were  in- 
terested in  missions  an  hundred  years  ago.  But  the 
single  motive  which,  standing  alone,  led  to  the  mis- 
sionary enterprise  has  come  to  be  so  surrounded  by 
other  thoughts  and  motives  as  to  lose  its  relative  im- 
portance, and  be  less  available  than  it  then  was  as  a 
controlling  influence.  This  is  one  of  the  great  and 
significant  causes  of  the  crisis  in  missions." 

It  is  not  necessarily  true  that  the  paramount  motive 
of  a  century  ago  is  no  longer  believed;  but  that  other 
motives  have  grown  and  reached  a  commanding  in- 
fluence as  a  power  in  the  Christian  consciousness  of 
today.  A  Christian  missionary  has  indeed  changed 
his  views,  for  instance,  concerning  the  origin  and 
character  of  Hinduism.  Through  modern  enlighten- 
ment and  the  study  of  comparative  religion  no  man 
can  go  out  as  a  missionary,  even  as  I  was  expected 
to  go  less  than  a  quarter  of  a  century  ago,  with  a 
general  belief  that  that  great  religion  is  entirely  of  the 
devil  and  is  in  itself  evil  and  only  evil  continually. 
The  missionary  of  today  must  discriminate,  must 
study  appreciation  and  consider  historic  facts.  He 
must  know  that  ethnic,  and  all  non-Christian  re- 
ligions, have  had  their  uses,  and  that  some  still  have 
their  uses  in  the  world.  They  are  the  expression  of 
the  deepest  religious  instincts  of  the  human  soul. 
And  they  have,  especially  suc.i  a  faith  as  Hinduism, 
not  a  few  elements   of  truth  which   a  missionary 


The  MISSIONARY  217 

should  know  no  less  than  he  should  understand  the 
great  evils  which  enter  as  a  part  of  them. 

The  greatest  missionary  motive  of  today  lies  in  the 
last  commission  of  our  Lord  which  emanates  from 
the  heart,  and  reveals  the  essence  of  our  religion. 
His  command  to  his  disciples  to  go  and  disciple  the 
nations  stands  now  as  the  Supreme  Christian  Com- 
mand; and  its  significance  is  appreciated  and  empha- 
sized today  as  never  before.  And  so  long  as  a  Church 
gives  increasing  emphasis  to  this,  His  greatest  com- 
mission, it  must  necessarily  be  in  the  path  of  duty,  of 
privilege,  of  blessing  and  of  power.  Above  all  other 
missionary  motives  this  must  remain  supreme. 

And  there  must  go  hand  in  hand  with  this  loyalty 
to  Christ,  a  deepening  loyalty  to  Christianity  and  a 
growing  appreciation  of  its  uniqueness  in  the  world. 
Christianity  is  not  one  religion  among  many;  it 
stands  alone  as  the  soul-satisfying  and  soul-saving 
faith.  The  scattered  lights  of  other  faiths  find  here 
their  centre,  and  all  their  prophesies  find  here  fulfill- 
ment. The  need  of  Christianity,  by  all  men,  is 
supreme.  Whatever  may  be  said  in  favour  of  other 
faiths  we  must  say  of  them  that  they  are,  in  many 
respects,  perverted  and  are  inadequate  as  a  mearts  of 
salvation. 

And  in  addition  to  this  the  missionary  must  feel 
that  all  non-Christian  peoples  are  in  supreme  need  of 
Christ,  the  Saviour.  This  fact  we  cannot  afford  to 
qualify,  without,  in  very  truth,  cutting  the  nerve  of 
missions.  When  a  missionary  regards  Christ  and 
His  mission  and  message  as  only  an  incident  in  the 
life  and  need  of  our  race  and  ceases  to  acknowledge 
that  all  men  need  Christ  supremely,  he  had  better 


2i8         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

give  up  his  work;  for  his  missionary  motive  has  lost 
its  foundation  and  his  life  work  has  been  robbed  of 
its  power. 

The  missionary  is  called  to  go  wherever  the 
Macedonian  cry  of  human  need  and  of  spiritual  help- 
lessness is  heard.  Our  Lord's  command  was  world- 
embracing  in  its  extent;  it  was  a  discipling  of  all 
nations;  it  was  a  call  to  be  witnesses  unto  the  utter- 
most parts  of  the  earth. 

Shall  the  missionary  go  and  preach  everywhere  the 
gospel  of  Christ,  whether  men  invite  him  or  not? 
In  view  of  recent  events  in  China  and  in  other  lands 
some  people  (and  among  them  are  a  few  well-mean- 
ing Christians)  question  our  duty  and  even  our  right 
and  privilege  to  carry  the  gospel  to  a  people  against 
its  will  and  when  it  is  satisfied  with  its  own  faith. 
They  claim  that  this  restraint  is  demanded  by  true 
Christian  altruism  and  by  the  spirit  of  Christ.  That 
the  day  has  come  when  the  Christian  Church  should 
thoroughly  reconsider  the  best  methods  of  missionary 
approach  to  such  peoples  1  readily  agree.  I  also 
maintain  that  Protestant  missions  should  everywhere 
scrupulously  avoid  all  Jesuitical  methods  and  political 
influences  and  should  always  strive  to  minimize,  if 
not  ignore,  their  political  rights  and  magnify  the 
spiritual  side  of  their  work.  Under  these  conditions 
no  people  has  lent  an  unwilling  ear  to  the  mis- 
sionary's message,  or,  for  a  long  time,  failed  to  re- 
joice in  his  presence  and  work.  But  had  missionary 
societies  sent  their  missionaries  only  to  those  people 
who  invited  them,  or  were  prepared  to  give  them  a 
cordial  welcome,  where  could  they  have  found  work 
or  how  achieve  the  magnificent  success  of  the  last 


T:he  MISSIONARY  219 

century  ?  Imagine  the  great  missionary  apostle  send- 
ing messengers  in  advance  to  inquire  whether  the  in- 
habitants of  Lystra  and  Ephesus,  of  Thessalonica  and 
Athens  were  willing  to  receive  him,  and  turning 
away  his  face  because,  forsooth,  they  were  not  pre- 
pared to  welcome  him!  The  only  mvitation  he  did 
receive  was  from  Macedonia  in  a  vision.  The  ac- 
ceptance of  the  invitation  brought  to  him  at  once  op- 
position and  stripes.  Paul  said  that  he  knew  that 
bonds  awaited  him  wherever  he  went.  But  that  did 
not  deter  him. 

Had  our  Lord  Himself  considered  the  attitude  of 
man  towards  Himself  He  would  never  have  come 
down  to  men.  He  came  to  fling  fire  upon  the  earth 
— to  bring  not  peace  but  a  sword.  He  was  despised 
and  rejected  of  men.  Like  Him,  missionaries  must 
consider  the  deep  spiritual  need  and  not  the  desire  of 
a  people.  Above  all,  they  must  be  assured  every- 
where, in  their  great  life  work,  that  they  are  sent  by 
God  rather  than  invited  by  men. 

6.  The  Relationship  Which  the  Missionary  Sustains 
TO  the  Missionary  Society  and  the  Churches 
Which  Support  Him. 

The  relationship  into  which  a  man,  who  becomes 
a  missionary,  enters  with  the  missionary  society  and 
the  churches  is  a  very  precious  one,  and  should  be 
fully  realized.  In  a  peculiar  sense  he  has  become 
their  adopted  child — the  subject  of  their  prayer  and 
the  object  of  their  pride.  They  have  taken  him  into 
their  own  heart  and  his  support  and  success  are  their 
peculiar  concern. 

He  is  the  connecting  link  between  them  and  the 


220         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

work  which  they  support  and  cherish  in  the  far-off 
land.  Whatever  of  interest,  of  joy  and  of  responsi- 
bility they  possess  in  that  work  passes  through  him. 
He  is  to  them  the  channel  through  which  flow  their 
endeavours.  He  is  the  living  embodiment  of  their 
interest  in  the  work  as  also  of  their  effort  to  bring 
the  heathen  to  Christ.  And  in  like  manner  he  has 
become  to  them  the  articulate  cry  of  the  heathen 
world  for  help.  He  represents  to  them  at  the  same 
time  both  the  progress  of  the  work,  its  need  and  the 
claims  of  a  heathen  world  upon  them.  He  is  their 
agent  to  develop  and  inspire  their  infant  Mission 
Church.  He  is  also  the  almoner  of  their  benevo- 
lence. 

In  all  these  capacities  it  is  well  that  he  remember, 
constantly,  how  much  he  depends  for  inspiration  as 
for  support  upon  those  who  have  sent  him  forth  to 
the  heathen  and  who,  under  God,  sustain  him  and 
his  work.  He  should  cultivate  full  appreciation  of 
their  endeavour;  he  should  keep  himself  in  living, 
loving  touch  with  both  society  and  churches;  and  he 
should  deem  it  his  duty  and  privilege  to  furnish  them 
with  all  light  and  intelligence  concerning  his  work. 
It  is  thus  that  he  must  strengthen  their  faith  and  in- 
spire their  hearts  in  the  great  and  far-off  work  which 
they  are  maintaining.  It  is  his  opportunity  to  add 
fuel  to  the  ardor  and  enthusiasm  of  all  the  churches 
in  the  missionary  endeavour.  In  this  he  has  an  im- 
portant function  to  perform  and  should  endeavour  to 
magnify  his  office. 

In  my  opinion  the  relationship  between  the  mis- 
sionary and  those  whom  he  represents  at  home 
might  easily  be  strengthened  and  improved  by  added 


The  MISSIONARY  221 

recognition  and  courtesy  to  him  in  the  home-land. 
At  present  the  foreign  missionary  of  the  Congrega- 
tional Churches  is  simply  regarded  as  their  paid  agent. 
This  relationship  is  indeed  a  pleasant  and  a  cordial 
one.  The  American  Board  is  most  appreciative  of 
the  labors  of  its  missionary  agents  and  deals  with 
them  generously.  The  churches  also  give  them  a 
cordial  welcome  and  a  warm  hearing.  But  the  mis- 
sionary has  no  status  whatever  beyond  this.  He  re- 
turns for  a  furlough  to  the  home-land  and  feels  him- 
self, in  a  peculiar  sense,  a  stranger.  He  has  no 
official  connection  whatever  with  his  society;  his 
voice  is  not  heard  in  its  councils;  his  wisdom  and 
experience  are  not  sought  in  its  deliberations.  In 
other  words,  though  possessed  of  a  large  stock  of 
knowledge  which  might  be  of  value  to  the  Board  in 
the  shaping  of  its  policy  and  in  the  direction  of  its 
work  at  its  annual  meetings,  he  has  absolutely  no 
voice  or  place  there  and  stands  apart  from  its  organi- 
zation, beyond  the  privilege  of  being  its  foreign  serv- 
ant. The  missionary  body  has  felt  this  deprivation 
and  isolation  during  critical  periods  in  the  history  of 
the  Board;  and  it  still  feels  that,  at  least  some  of  its 
number  should  be  permitted  both  to  enjoy  the  honour, 
and  also  to  render  the  service  incident  to  being  cor- 
porate members  of  the  Board. 

The  situation  is  no  better  in  his  relation  to  the 
home  churches.  He  is  a  member,  probably,  of  some 
church  in  the  home-land;  but,  upon  his  return  home 
he  has  no  status  whatever  in  any  Conference  or  As- 
sociation, or  as  a  member  of  a  Ministerial  body 
among  his  home  brethren.  In  his  deputation  work 
at  home  he  fmds  welcome,  as  a  stranger  or  as  an  out- 


222         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

sider,  and  not  as  a  member  or  as  an  integral  part  of 
any  body  or  Association. 

The  position  of  the  missionary  is  different  among 
the  Methodists.  Every  minister  of  that  body  finds 
that,  by  becoming  a  foreign  missionary  he  does  not 
separate  himself  from  home  ties  and  privileges.  His 
ministerial  connection  is  preserved  intact,  so  that  he 
has  a  status  in  the  churches  and  in  the  missionary 
society. 

7.    The  Missionary  and  the  Mission  to  Which  He 
Belongs. 

When  a  man  becomes  a  member  of  a  foreign  mis- 
sion he  soon  realizes  that  he  has  become  a  part  of  a 
compact  organization.  All  its  members  are  bound 
together  by  the  warmest  ties  of  friendship  and  love. 
Largely  separated  from  the  world  and  knit  together 
by  common  purpose  as  by  all  their  highest  ambitions, 
they  verily  become  a  big  family  whose  love  increases 
as  the  years  multiply,  and  among  whom  the  spirit  of 
dissension  can  only  create  the  deepest  sorrow  and 
greatest  bitterness.  It  is,  therefore,  of  the  utmost 
importance  that  every  one  who  becomes  a  mission- 
ary should  be  a  man  of  peace;  should  know  how  to 
live  in  harmony  with  all  his  brethren.  He  should 
cultivate  that  spirit  and  should  aim  to  see  eye  to 
eye  with  those  who  are  thus  so  intimately  connected 
with  him.  In  loving  sympathy  they  should  unite 
in  the  serious  concerns  of  their  life-work.  One  of 
the  first  requisites  demanded  from  a  missionary  ap- 
plicant from  the  American  Board  is  that  he  be  of  a 
peaceable  disposition — able  to  live  harmoniously  with 
others.     And  it  is  not  only  a  suggestion  that  should 


rhe  MISSION  ART  223 

be  heeded  by  every  missionary;  it  is  also  a  rule 
which  should  be  enforced  by  every  missionary 
society. 

Each  mission  has  behind  it  a  history,  and,  before 
it,  more  or  less  of  an  aim  and  policy.  It  should  be 
the  ambition  of  every  member  of  that  mission  to 
study  and  honour  the  one,  and  to  be  faithful  and 
loyal  to  the  other.  The  history  of  most  missions  in 
India  is  precious  and  full  of  instruction.  They  have 
sainted  heroes  and  most  interesting  traditions.  The 
missionary  should  not  only  study  the  records  of  his 
own  mission  and  draw  from  them  every  possible 
lesson  for  his  life;  he  should  also  enter  heartily  into 
the  spirit  of  the  mission  and  endeavour  cordially  to 
bring  himself  en  rapport  with  its  highest  wisdom, 
deepest  purposes  and  most  cherished  schemes  for  the 
future.  It  is  not  necessary  that  he  be  satisfied  with 
all  that  the  mission  has  done  ;  he  should  also  aim,  in 
the  spirit  of  humility  and  of  patience,  to  constitution- 
ally influence  his  brethren  to  his  own  new  views  and 
better  way  of  thinking,  if  he  have  any.  Above  all, 
he  should  aim  to  conserve  rather  than  to  destroy. 
The  blessings  of  the  past  should  be  utilized  in  attain- 
ing higher  things  for  the  future.  Revolutionary 
methods  are  ill-adapted  to  add  blessing  to  such  a 
work.  It  should  also  be  the  aim  of  the  missionary 
to  so  further  the  work  of  his  mission  that  it  may 
soon  cease  to  be  a  necessity.  A  mission,  at  best,  is 
but  a  temporary  thing.  It  should  constantly  aim  to 
so  nourish  and  strengthen  the  native  church  as  to 
make  itself  unnecessary.  And  it  should  be  the  aim 
of  the  missionary  to  hasten,  with  all  speed,  this  con- 
summation. 


224 


INDIA'S  PROBLEM 


8.  The  Relation  of  the  Missionary  to  the  People 
Among  Whom  He  Lives. 

Having  entered  upon  his  work  and  settled  among 
the  people  of  his  choice,  he  must  seek  to  realize  the 
best  possible  relation  to  them.  This  relationship  will 
be  a  varied  one. 

He  must  be  a  leader  of  the  Christian  community. 
In  India,  today,  there  is  special  need  for  missionaries 
who  are  born  leaders.  The  people  of  that  land  are 
defective  in  the  power  of  initiative;  but  they  are 
most  tractable  and  docile.  They  love  to  follow  a 
bold  and  a  wise  leader  of  men.  And  the  missionary, 
from  the  very  necessity  of  his  position,  should  be 
able  to  direct  and  guide  the  Christian  community  into 
ways  of  holiness  and  of  Christian  activity.  He  is  to 
be  a  leader  of  leaders.  He  should  marshal  the  mis- 
sion agents  connected  with  him  in  such  a  way  as  to 
lead  the  native  Church  into  highest  usefulness  and 
most  earnest  endeavour  for  the  salvation  of  souls. 

He  should  be  strong  as  an  organizer  and  adminis- 
trator. In  missions  the  word  organization  is  becom- 
ing the  keyword  of  the  situation.  There  is  no  danger 
of  over-organization,  so  long  as  the  organization  is 
endowed  with  life  and  does  not  degenerate  into  ma- 
chinery. The  best  organized  activities  of  today  are 
the  most  powerful  and  the  most  useful.  And  the 
missionary  will  find  his  highest  powers  for  organiza- 
tion taxed  to  the  utmost  in  his  missionary  work. 
And  as  an  administrator  there  will  be  made  many 
claims  upon  him  daily.  I  know  of  few  qualifica- 
tions that  are  more  essential  to  the  highest  success  on 
the  mission  field  than  conspicuous  ability  to  organize 
and  wisdom  to  administer  the  affairs  of  a  mission. 


The  MISSIONARY  225 

Missionaries  frequently  fail  at  this  point  and  need 
therefore  to  strengthen  themselves  in  this  particular. 

A  missionary  should  be  as  much  the  conserver  of 
the  good  as  a  destroyer  of  the  evil  which  he  finds 
among  the  people.  Much  of  that  which  he  will  see 
in  India,  for  instance,  will  at  first,  and  perhaps  for  a 
long  time,  seem  strange  and  outlandish  to  him ;  but 
let  him  not  decide  that  it  is  therefore  evil.  The  life 
of  the  Orient  is  built  on  different  lines  from  that  of 
the  Occident.  Many  things  in  common  life,  in  do- 
mestic economy  and  in  social  customs  will,  and 
must,  be  different  there  from  what  they  are  here. 
Their  civilization,  though  different  from  ours,  has  a 
consistency  as  a  whole;  and  we  cannot  easily  elimi- 
nate certain  parts  and  substitute  for  them  those  of 
our  own  civilization  without  dislocating  the  whole. 
Therefore,  it  is  often  safer  and  better  to  conserve 
what  seems  to  us  the  lesser  good  of  their  civilization 
than  to  introduce  what  seems  the  greater  good  of 
our  own. 

The  missionary  must  be  careful  to  distinguish  be- 
tween those  things  which  are  real,  and  those  which 
are  apparent,  evils  among  the  customs  of  the  people. 
There  are  some  customs,  such  as  are  connected  with 
the  degradation  of  woman  and  heathen  ceremonies 
which  are  fundamentally  wrong  and  must  be  opposed 
always.  There  are  others  which  seem  uncouth  and 
unworthy,  but  which  are  devoid  of  moral  or  religious 
significance.  Of  two  missionaries,  the  one  who 
studies  to  utihze  the  existing  good  among  the  habits 
of  the  people  will  find  greatest  usefulness.  Some 
waste  their  time,  destroy  their  influence  and  minimize 
their  usefulness  by  a  destructive  way  of  attacking 


226         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

everything  that  is  not  positively  good  and  beating 
their  head  against  every  wall  of  custom. 

The  missionary  should  be  a  prophet  to  rebuke  and 
to  condemn  evil.  He  will  find  numberless  evils  on 
all  sides  of  him — in  Church,  in  general  society  and  in 
individual  life  among  the  people.  He  must  not  hesi- 
tate to  use  constantly  his  voice  as  a  protest  against 
all  forms  of  evil.  This  duty  is  the  more  incumbent 
upon  him  as  there  are  none  among  the  people  to  pro- 
test and  to  denounce  the  most  flagrant,  demoralizing 
and  universal  evils  of  the  land.  One  of  the  most 
discouraging  things  concerning  the  situation  in  India 
is,  not  the  universality  of  certain  evils,  but  the  utter 
absence  of  those  who  dare  to  withstand  them  and 
denounce  them  as  sins  before  all  the  people.  Mis- 
sionaries have  done  more  in  that  land  to  rightly  char- 
acterize certain  gross  evils  and  to  call  the  attention  of 
the  people  to  them  than  have  any  other  people  in  the 
land.  And  they  have  recognition  for  this.  And  this 
prophetic  function  of  the  missionary  must  be  exer- 
cised with  increasing  faithfulness  for  the  good  of  the 
land  and  for  the  purity  of  the  Church  of  God. 

In  that  country  the  missionary  must  also  stand  be- 
fore the  people  as  their  exemplar.  He  must  repre- 
sent, not  only  Christianity  at  its  best,  but  also  the 
civilization  of  the  West  in  its  purest  and  most  at- 
tractive garb.  India  has  always  greatly  needed  such 
human  types  of  nobility  of  character  to  encourage 
and  stimulate  the  people  to  a  higher  life.  With  all 
modesty  and  due  humility  the  missionary  is  called 
upon  just  as  much  to  live  as  he  is  to  teach  the  best 
that  is  found  in  his  religion  and  in  the  civilization  of 
his  mother  country.     In  India,  the  life  of  the  mission- 


rhe  MISSIONARY  227 

ary  has  spoken  more  loudly  than  his  words.  There 
are  millions  in  that  land  today,  who,  while  they  deny 
and  reject  the  teaching  of  the  missionary,  give  him 
unstinted  praise  both  for  what  he  is  and  for  what  he 
has  done  for  the  country. 

The  testimony  of  Sir  William  Mackworth  Young, 
Lieutenant-Governor  of  Punjab  is  only  one  of  many 
such  ; — "  I  take  off  my  hat  to  the  humblest  mission- 
ary that  walks  a  bazaar  in  India,"  he  said,  in  a  recent 
public  address,  **  because  he  is  leading  a  higher  and 
a  grander  life  and  doing  a  grander  work  than  any 
other  class  of  persons  who  are  working  in  India.  If 
the  natives  of  India  have  any  practical  knowledge  of 
what  is  meant  by  Christian  charity,  if  they  know 
anything  of  high,  disinterested  motives  and  self- 
sacrifice,  it  is  mainly  from  the  missionary  that  they 
learn  it.  The  strength  of  our  position  in  India  de- 
pends more  largely  upon  the  good-will  of  the  people 
than  upon  the  strength  and  number  of  our  garrisons, 
and  for  that  good-will  we  are  largely  indebted  to  the 
kindly,  self-sacrificing  efforts  of  the  Christian  mis- 
sionary. It  is  love  which  must  pave  the  way  for  the 
regeneration  of  India  as  well  as  for  the  consolidation 
of  England's  power." 

The  missionary  must  never  lose  this  crown  of  glory 
in  India.  He  must  hold  it  most  precious  and  strive 
to  add  to  the  glory  which  he  thus  reflects  upon  his 
Faith  in  that  land. 


yiii 

MISSIONARY  ORGANIZATION       . 

THOROUGH  organization  of  any  work  is  es- 
sential to  its  highest  efficiency.  The  Mis- 
sionary Department  of  the  work  of  the 
Christian  Church  should,  therefore,  be  well  organ- 
ized. As  missionary  effort  expands,  grows  in 
intensity  and  increases  in  power,  it  must  find  a 
growingly  efficient  organization  in  order  to  ade- 
quately express  itself  and  to  attain  further  growth. 

I.  A  thorough  Missionary  Organization  at  home  is 
the  first  requisite  in  order  to  highest  success.  Thus 
only  can  the  missionary  work  abroad  be  maintained 
and  fostered;  because,  by  this  means  only  can  mis- 
sionary ardour  be  kindled  in  the  churches.  A  Church 
which  is  not  adequately  marshalled  for  activity  in 
heathen  lands  will  soon  become  self-centred  and 
will  easily  forget  the  claims,  if  not  the  very  existence, 
of  the  heathen. 

A  Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  well  organized 
efficiency  has,  up  to  the  present,  been  the  best  agency 
in  the  development  and  furtherance  of  the  foreign 
work  of  every  denomination.  And  the  day  does  not 
seem  near  when  this  agency  can  be  dispensed  with. 

This  missionary  society  should  be  in  close  touch 
with  the  denomination  or  body  of  Christians  which 
has  organized  and  maintains  it.  It  should  be  plastic 
to  the  touch  and  will  of  its  constituency  and  should 

228 


ORGANIZATION  229 

seek  in  every  way  to  be  at  the  same  time  a  faithful 
exponent  of  the  thought  and  ambition  of  the  churches, 
and  a  leader  and  a  source  of  new  inspiration  and  hght 
to  them  on  missionary  problems.     This  society  should 
scrupulously  avoid,  on  the  one  hand,  the  danger  of 
too  much  independence  and  of  a  purpose  to  shape 
the  missionary  policy  of  the  churches;  and,  on  the 
other,  the  equally  serious  evil  of  dragging,  or  of  de- 
clining to  move  a  step  without  the  direct  intimation, 
command  or  leadership  of  the  churches.     There  has 
been  a  time  in  the  history  of  the  American  Board 
when  the  one  evil  constituted  its  danger;  at  the  pres- 
ent time  it  would  seem  as  if  the  other  danger  seri- 
ously threatened  it.  .    . 

It  is  of  much  importance  that  the  foreign  mission- 
ary benevolences  of  a  church  should  be  wisely  ad- 
ministered as  a  whole.     When  different  missionary 
societies  of  a  denomination  appeal,   as  they  do  at 
present,   to  our  churches  for  funds  to  support  the 
missionary  cause  in  foreign  lands,  it  is  of  great  im- 
portance   that   moneys   received  by  these   different 
bodies  should  be  appropriated  wisely.     They  should 
be  brought  together  both  for  unity  of  results  and  for 
economy  of  expenditure  on  the  mission  field.     My 
observation  convinces  me  that,  for  want  of  a  wise 
union  or  correlation  of  our  missionary  agencies  at 
home  the  various  departments  of  the  work  (of  the 
Congregationalists,  for  instance)  on  the  mission  field 
are  very  unequally  supported,  and  an  unwise  distri- 
bution of  the  benevolences  of  the  churches  follows 
as  a  result.     A  previous,  full  consideration,  by  a  com- 
petent  general   committee   of   finance,    in   America, 
should  be  had  of  the  needs  of  the  various  depart- 


230         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

ments  of  each  mission  and  of  the  distribution  of  all 
the  funds  collected  for  that  mission  by  the  various 
societies;  and  they  should  be  carefully  distributed  in 
accordance  with  the  urgency  of  those  needs  re- 
spectively. 

These  missionary  societies  should  aim  to  cultivate 
in  the  churches  the  spirit  of  missions  as  a  Christian 
principle.  Advocates  of  the  missionary  cause 
strongly  feel  that  the  interest  of  the  Church  in  mis- 
sionary w^ork  today  is  too  little  based  upon  the  real 
and  fundamental  principle  of  missionary  v^ork  as  a 
necessity  of  the  life  of  the  Church  itself,  and  too 
much  dependent  upon  exciting  narrative,  tearful  ap- 
peal and  poetic  romance.  The  cultivation  of  the 
missionary  principle  and  the  inculcation  of  the  doc- 
trine of  the  privilege  and  beauty  of  supporting  mis- 
sions, apart  from  any  impassioned  appeals  or  tragic 
events,  is  one  of  the  desiderata  of  the  Church  today. 
It  is  a  morbid  condition  of  the  mind  of  the  Church 
which  demands  exciting  narrative  and  hysterical  ap- 
peal in  order  to  arouse  it  to  its  duty  in  this  matter; 
and  it  also  tends  to  create  a  standard  of  missionary 
advocacy  which  is  neither  manly  nor  sufficiently  care- 
ful to  balance  well  the  facts  and  data  of  missionary 
work  as  it  is  found  upon  the  field.  There  is  consid- 
erable danger  of  accepting,  today,  only  that  form  of 
missionary  appeal  which  is  directed  to  the  emotion 
and  which  abounds  in  mental  excitement  rather  than 
that  which  furnishes  food  for  sober  thought.  The 
consequence  is  that  this  advocacy  is  in  danger  of  be- 
coming a  producer  of  more  heat  than  light — of  more 
emotion  than  intelligent  conviction. 

The   recent  movement    towards    leading    certain 


ORGANIZATION  231 

churches  to  take  up  definite  portions  of  the  work  in 
foreign  lands  and  to  support,  each  a  missionary  for 
itself,  has  in  it  much  to  commend  it  to  our  acceptance. 
It  certainly  has  the  merit  of  defmiteness  in  purpose, 
work  and  prayer;  and  this  brings  added  interest  and 
a  growing  sense  of  responsibility  to  each  church 
which  takes  up  the  work.  If  a  man  (or  a  church) 
finds  his  interest  in  missions  waning  as  a  principle  of 
Christian  activity  the  best  thing  for  him,  perhaps,  is 
to  come  into  touch  with  a  missionary  or  a  mission 
agent  on  the  field.  By  supporting  him  or  a  depart- 
ment of  work  conducted  by  him,  and  by  being  kept 
frequently  informed  of  the  work  which  he  is  sup- 
porting, new  fuel  is  constantly  added  to  that  mis- 
sionary interest  which  thereby  develops  into  zeal  and 
enthusiasm.  The  method  has  apostolic  sanction  and 
partakes  of  the  simplicity  of  primitive  missionary 
endeavour. 

But  this  method  should  not  be  too  exclusively  pur- 
sued. It  should  not  interfere  with  a  broader  outlook 
upon  missions  and  a  general  sympathy  with,  and 
support  of,  the  common  work.  And  all  of  the  work 
should  be  done  through  the  missionary  society  which 
alone  can  rightly  coordinate  and  unify  the  whole 
work  of  the  particular  mission. 

Faith  Missions,  so  called,  represent  a  genuine  and 
a  worthy  spirit  among  many  of  God's  people  today. 
To  them  the  somewhat  lumbering  business  methods 
of  the  large  missionary  organizations  savour  too  much 
of  worldly  prudence  and  seem  subversive  of  the 
deepest  Christian  faith.  They  maintain  that  the  old 
method  is  one  that  looks  too  much  to  men  and  too 
little  to  God  for  support.     And  they  also  claim  that 


232         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

the  missionary  of  such  a  society  has  little  opportunity 
for  the  exercise  of  highest  faith  in  God  both  for  him- 
self and  his  work.  These  new  missions,  therefore, 
have  come  into  existence  practically,  if  not  really,  as 
a  protest  against  modern  methods  of  conducting  mis- 
sionary work.  They  may  do  much  good  if  they  ex- 
ercise some  restraint  upon  missionary  societies  in 
this  matter.  Probably  it  is  needed.  Many  believe 
that  there  is  an  excessive  tendency  among  the 
directors  of  missionary  societies,  at  the  present  day, 
to  consider  this  great  enterprise  simply  as  a  business 
enterprise,  and  that,  in  the  committee  rooms,  faith 
has  yielded  too  much  to  prudence,  and  the  wings  of 
missionary  enterprise  have  been  too  much  clipped  by 
worldly  considerations.  How  far  their  reasoning  is 
true,  I  will  not  decide.  Their  claim  is  not  without  a 
basis  of  truth.  The  financial  embarrassment  brings 
to  the  Missionary  Society  today,  much  more  than  it 
used  to,  discouragement  and  a  halt;  with  the  result 
that  the  missions  are  more  than  ever  before  crippled 
by  retrenchment  and  home  churches  are  resting  satis- 
fied with  smaller  attainments  and  are  forgetting  the 
old  watchwords  of  progress  and  advance. 

"Faith  Missions"  are  created  by  and  meet  the 
needs  of  a  certain  class  of  people  in  the  church  whose 
spiritual  life  is  intense  and  who  crave  romance  in 
faith  and  in  life.  The  missionaries  of  these  societies 
tire  of  the  great  organizations  of  the  church  and  are 
usually  men  who  are  restless  under  any  stiff  method 
or  extensive  system  in  Christian  work. 

But  very  few  such  missionaries  meet  with  per- 
manent success.  The  glamour  of  the  **  faith  life,"  so 
called,  does  not  abide  with  them.     Few  men  have 


ORGANIZATION  233 

the  staying,  as  well  as  the  supporting,  faith  of  a 
George  Miiller;  and  yet  every  missionary  in  this  class 
should  be  a  hero  of  faith— a  man  with  that  special 
gift  and  power  from  God  which  will  maintain  itself 
and  go  on  working  under  the  most  adverse  circum- 
stances. And  this  is  what  the  ordinary  *'  faith  mis- 
sionary "  does  not  possess  in  an  exceptional  degree. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  "  Faith  Missions  "  are  decidedly 
wasteful  of  means  in  the  conduct  of  their  work.  If, 
in  some  ways,  they  practice  more  economy,  in  other 
matters  of  greatest  importance,  there  is  deplorable 
wastefulness.  For,  they  are  wanting  both  in  con- 
tinuity and  in  wise  management  and  sane  direction. 
As  history  has  shown,  they  also  easily  degenerate  into 
very  prudential  methods  and  sensational  forms  of 
advertisement  which  destroy  the  very  faith  which  the 
missions  were  supposed  to  express  and  conserve. 
There  is  no  less  faith — rather  is  there  more — exer- 
cised by  members  of  well-organized  missions  who 
depend  upon  God's  supply  through  the  regular  chan- 
nel of  a  society.  For  they  can  give  themselves 
entirely  to  their  work  of  faith  and  love,  confident 
that  God  will  provide  for  their  wants  and  the  wants 
of  their  work;  while  the  "faith  missionary"  has  to 
devote  much  time  in  anxious  thought  and  in  skillful 
and  dubious  methods  of  appeal  to  secure  the  means 
of  support. 

One  only  needs  to  look  at  India  today  and  there 
study  the  results  of  these  two  classes  of  missions  in 
order  to  see  which  method  is  the  more  economical 
and  the  more  owned  of  God. 

The  Missionary  Boards  should  keep  in  close  touch 
and  living  communication  with  the  missions  which 


234         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

they  support.  The  mission  to  which  I  have  the 
honour  of  belonging  has  not  had  the  privilege,  until 
the  last  year,  of  receiving  an  official  visitation  from 
any  member  of  our  Board  for  nearly  forty-five  years. 
That  a  society  should  aim,  by  its  officials  in  one  city, 
to  conduct,  for  so  many  years,  a  mission  among  its 
antipodes  without  having  one  representative  among 
its  directors  who  has  gazed  upon  that  land,  seen  that 
people  or  studied  on  the  ground  any  of  its  problems, 
seems  remarkable,  and  wants  in  that  sagacity  which 
usually  directs  us  as  a  people.  By  frequent  visitations 
alone  can  such  a  society  expect  to  be  able  to  direct 
wisely  and  lead  successfully  its  missions.  For,  it  is 
highly  desirable,  both  in  the  interests  of  the  mission 
itself,  of  the  society  and  of  the  home  churches  that  at 
least  some  of  the  directors  of  the  society  should  know 
personally  and  well  each  mission  supported  through 
them.  At  no  greater  intervals  than  five  years  such  a 
visitation  should  be  planned  for  every  mission.  I  am 
confident  that  they  would  add  largely  to  the  efficiency 
of  our  missionary  work  and  increase  the  interest  of 
home  churches  in  their  foreign  work.  But  such 
visiting  committees  should  be  willing  to  learn  and 
should  not  come  out  with  preconceived  ideas  of  what 
ought  to  be  done,  nor  with  bottled  and  labelled  reme- 
dies for  all  the  ills  of  the  mission.  Some  missions  are 
sore  today  because  of  a  visitation  many  years  ago, 
since  it  was  not  conceived  in  the  spirit  of  highest 
wisdom  and  teachableness. 

2.  The  missions  themselves  also  should  be  well 
organized  for  work.  The  success  of  a  mission  will 
depend,  in  no  small  degree,  upon  the  character  of  its 
organization.     In  India,  today,  there  is  a  great  variety 


OR  GANIZATION  235 

of  missionary  organizations.  They  range  from  the 
ahnost  purely  autocratic  ones,  established  by  Chris- 
tians of  the  European  Continent,  to  the  thoroughly 
democratic  and  largely  autonomous  ones  of  the 
American  Missions.  German  and  Danish  Missions 
are  mostly  controlled  by  the  home  committees  of 
their  missionary  societies.  American  Missions  have 
a  large  degree  of  autonomy  in  the  conduct  of  their 
affairs.  British  Missions  divide  equally  with  their 
home  Society  the  right  and  privilege  of  conducting 
their  affairs.  It  is  certainly  not  wise  that  a  committee 
of  gentlemen  thousands  of  miles  distant  from  the  mis- 
sion field  should  autocratically  direct  and  control,  even 
to  matters  of  detail,  the  affairs  of  their  mission.  The 
missionaries  on  the  ground  should  not  only  have  the 
right  to  express  their  opinions,  but  should  also  have 
a  voice  in  conducting  the  affairs  of  the  mission  for 
whose  furtherance  they  have  given  their  life,  whose 
interests  they  dearly  love  and  whose  affairs  they  are 
the  most  competent  to  understand. 

Nor  yet  should  a  mission  be  entirely  free  from 
foreign  guidance  and  suggestion.  Too  much  power 
given  to  a  mission  is  as  really  a  danger  as  too  little 
power.  It  is  well  for  a  mission  that  it  should  have 
the  aid  of  men  who  have  large  missionary  interests 
under  their  guidance  and  who  are  in  full  sympathy 
with  home  churches.  The  ideal  mission  is  that 
which,  on  the  one  hand,  enjoys  a  large  degree  of 
autonomy  in  the  conduct  of  its  affairs,  and  yet 
which,  on  the  other  hand,  is  wisely  supported  and 
strengthened  by  the  restraining  influence,  suggestion 
and  even  the  occasional  initiative  of  a  well-formed 
home  committee. 


236         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

The  relation  of  the  mission  to  its  own  members 
should  always  be  firm  and  its  authority  kindly  and 
wisely  exercised.  There  may  arise  a  serious  danger 
of  too  much  individualism  in  a  mission.  A  mission 
which  does  not  have  a  policy  of  its  own  and  conduct 
its  whole  work  in  harmony  with  that  policy,  and  so 
control  the  work  of  each  of  its  members  as  to  make  it 
fully  contribute  to  the  realization  of  its  aims,  will  not 
attain  unto  the  largest  success  in  its  efforts.  When 
each  missionary  is  given  absolute  independence  to 
develop  his  own  work  on  his  own  lines  it  will  soon 
be  found  that  whatever  mission  policy  there  may  have 
been  will  be  crushed  out  by  rampant  individualism. 
And  when  each  man  is  at  liberty  to  follow  his  own 
inclination  and  to  direct  his  work  according  to  his 
own  sweet  will,  mission  work  will  have  lost  its 
homogeneity.  Each  section  and  department  of  the 
mission  will  be  changed  in  direction  and  method  of 
work  upon  the  arrival  of  every  new  missionary;  and 
thus  every  blessing  of  continuity  in  work  and  of  a 
wholesome  mission  policy  will  be  lost.  I  know  of 
missions  (American,  of  course)  which  suffer  seriously 
on  this  account.  I  also  know  of  other  missions  which 
are  seriously  affected  by  the  opposite  difficulty.  The 
mission  controls  its  work  so  completely,  even  to  its 
last  detail,  that  it  leaves  to  the  individual  missionary 
no  freedom  of  action  and  no  power  of  initiative. 
The  mission,  in  solemn  conclave,  decides  even  the 
character  and  quantity  of  food  which  must  be  given 
each  child  in  a  boarding  school  conducted  by  one  of 
its  missionaries!  A  control  which  reaches  into  such 
petty  details  as  this,  is  not  only  a  waste  of  time  to 
the  mission  itself;  it  seriously  compromises  the  dig- 


ORGANIZATION  237 

nity,  and  destroys  the  sense  of  responsibility,  of  the 
individual  missionary.  It  takes  away  from  him  the 
power  of  initiative  and  thus  largely  diminishes  his 
efficiency. 

The  ideal  mission  is  that  which  gives  to  each  of  its 
members  some  latitude  for  judgment  and  direction, 
but  which  has  a  definite  policy  of  its  own  and  sees  to 
it  that  this  policy  is,  in  the  main,  respected  and  sup- 
ported by  every  one  of  its  missionaries. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact,  in  the  study  of  the  missions 
of  India,  that  the  American  Missions,  on  the  whole, 
represent  the  largest  degree,  both  of  mission  autonomy 
and  of  missionary  individualism.  The  farther  we 
pass  east  from  America  the  more  do  we  see  mission 
autonomy  yield  to  the  control  of  the  home  society; 
and  the  independence  of  the  missionary  lost  in  the 
absoluteness  of  mission  supervision. 

How  far  shall  missions  give  the  power  of  franchise 
to  their  lady  members  in  the  conduct  of  mission  af- 
fairs }  The  last  few  years  has  seen  this  question  agi- 
tated by  many  missions.  They  differ  largely  in  this 
matter.  The  Madura  Mission  has  settled  the  problem 
by  giving  to  the  women  absolute  equality  with  the 
men.  This,  probably,  is  an  ideal  solution.  But  it 
should  be  accompanied  by  a  similar  movement  in  the 
missionary  societies  at  Boston.  The  position  at  pres- 
ent is  anomalous  in  that  mission;  for  while  it  has 
given  to  both  sexes  equal  rights  of  franchise  and  is 
therefore  a  unit  in  administrative  power,  the  societies 
at  home  which  support  the  general,  and  the  woman's 
parts  of  the  mission  activity  are  entirely  separate 
from  and  independent  of  each  other.  It  is  not  too 
much  to  hope  that,  at  an  early  date,  the  relations  of 


238         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

the  home  societies  may  be  changed  towards  unity  of 
action,  to  correspond  with  the  present  situation  in  the 
mission  field. 

The  relation  of  missions  contiguous  to  each  other 
in  foreign  lands  is  a  subject  which  is  increasingly  en- 
gaging the  thought  of  all  missionaries.  In  the  past, 
missions  of  different  denominations  lived  largely  iso- 
lated from,  and  absolutely  indifferent  to,  each  other's 
welfare.  There  was  much  friction  and  jealousy, 
coupled  with  a  readiness  to  disregard  each  other's 
feelings  and  a  willingness  to  take  advantage  of  each 
other's  weaknesses.  1  am  glad  to  say  that  that  era  is 
gradually  giving  way  to  a  time  of  better  feeling,  when 
sympathy  and  appreciation,  fellowship  and  coopera- 
tion are  becoming  the  watchwords.  During  the  last 
few  years  marked  progress  has  been  seen  in  India  in 
the  line  of  amity  and  comity  between  the  Protestant 
Missions  of  the  land.  Recently,  a  large  Conference 
of  Christian  Missionaries  was  convened  in  Madras 
representing  the  thirty-five  Protestant  Missions  of 
South  India.  Missions  which  formerly  held  aloof 
from  their  sister  missions  and  declined  to  fraternize 
in  any  way  with  them,  came  on  this  occasion  and 
heartily  joined  in  the  universal  good  feeling  and  de- 
sire for  fellowship  among  all.  Cooperation  was  the 
watchword  heard  in  all  discussions  at  that  great  Con- 
ference; and  since  that  day  increasing  effort  has  been 
put  forth  to  bring  several  of  the  more  nearly  related 
of  these  missions,  not  only  into  cooperation  in  work, 
but  also  into  organic  unity.  For  instance  the  mis- 
sions of  the  Free  Church  of  Scotland  and  of  the  Dutch 
Reformed  Church  of  America  have  met,  through  their 
representatives,  and  have  perfected  a  scheme  of  eccle- 


ORGANIZATION  239 

siastical  union  and  of  cooperation  in  work.  And  al- 
ready expressions  of  hearty  desire  have  been  made 
that  the  missions  of  the  Congregational  denomina- 
tions unite  with  these  Presbyterian  Missions  in  this 
Scheme  of  Union.  I  believe  that  it  will  require  but  a 
short  time  for  the  perfecting  of  such  a  union  among 
all  these  kindred  missions.  Thus  and  thus  only  can 
we  hope  to  teach  to  our  native  Christians  the  grow- 
ing oneness  of  God's  people;  and  thus  also  do  we 
hope  to  reduce  considerably  the  expenses  of  the  work 
in  that  land.  For,  by  thus  uniting  our  forces,  we 
shall  be  able  to  reduce  the  number  of  our  special  in- 
stitutions for  the  training  of  our  agency  and  the  de- 
velopment of  our  work.  Nothing  can  further  the 
cause  of  economy  in  mission  lands  today  more  than 
the  union  of  mission  institutions  now  built  on  de- 
nominational lines  and  expensively  conducted  in  all 
the  missions.  I  believe  in  denominationalism.  It  has 
its  mission  in  the  world  and  has  done  much  good. 
But  a  narrow,  selfish,  denominationalism  on  the  mis- 
sion field,  and  in  the  presence  both  of  the  infant  na- 
tive church  and  of  the  inquiring  Hindu  community, 
is  one  of  the  most  serious  evils  that  can  befall  the 
cause  of  Christ  in  India. 

We  should  all  pray  for  the  day  when  all  narrowness 
in  this  matter  shall  yield  to  the  broadest  sympathy, 
love  and  cooperation.  And,  perhaps,  the  best  way 
to  answer  our  prayers  in  this  matter  is  by  furthering 
the  noble  cause  of  Christian  union  among  the  de- 
nominations and  churches  here  at  home. 

The  old  illustration,  taken  from  the  rice  fields  of 
South  India,  is  apt  and  instructive.  These  fields  are 
srnall  and  divided  by  low  banks.     The  banks  serve 


240         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

the  purpose  of  separating  the  fields  of  different  per- 
sons, of  furnishing  water  channels  and  of  facilitating 
the  irrigation.  When  the  crops  are  young  and  low 
every  field  is  seen  marked  out  by  its  banks.  But  as 
the  crops  grow  the  banks  are  hidden  and  we  see 
nothing  but  one  great  expense  of  waving  grain  ready 
for  the  harvest.  So,  while  the  useful,  denominational 
banks  which  have  divided  us  in  mission  lands  are 
still  there  we  thank  God  that  they  are  being  hidden 
more,  year  by  year,  as  the  harvest  of  Christian  love 
and  fellowship  is  approaching. 

3.  The  organic  structure  of  a  mission  in  the  early 
stages  of  its  growth  is  a  very  simple  thing;  as  it 
achieves  increasing  success  the  necessities  of  the 
situation  compel  it  to  add  to  its  efficiency  by  widen- 
ing its  scope  and  increasing  its  functions  and  multi- 
plying its  departments  of  work.  A  hundred  years 
ago,  or  less,  as  the  missionary  entered  virgin  soil  and 
began  to  cultivate  a  new  mission  field,  he  devoted 
himself,  almost  exclusively,  to  the  work  of  preaching 
the  gospel  to  the  heathen.  Presently  the  gospel 
message  found  entrance  into  the  hearts  of  a  few  and 
they  were  formed  into  a  congregation.  At  once  he 
began  to  train  this  infant  congregation  and  selected 
one  or  more  of  the  most  promising  of  its  number  for 
special  instruction  and  initiation  into  the  duties  of 
Christian  service.  He  then  took  this  nucleus  of  a 
native  agency  with  himself  on  preaching  tours  until 
new  accessions  to  the  faith  were  gained  and  new 
congregations  established.  As  the  congregations 
multiplied  his  work  as  an  evangelist  had  to  give 
way,  in  part,  to  his  efforts  to  train  an  adequate 
native    agency  to  guide  and  nourish  the  growing 


ORGANIZATION  24 1 

Christian  community.  There  was  also  added  to  this 
the  pastoral  care  and  superintendence  of  congrega- 
tions new  and  old.  Later  on  he  felt  the  need  of 
schools  to  train  the  young  of  his  congregations;  he 
also  began  to  realize  the  value  of  educational  work 
for  non-Christians  as  a  means  of  presenting  to  them 
the  gospel  of  Christ.  Thus  a  system  of  schools  was 
gradually  established,  both  for  Christians  and  for 
non-Christians  which  not  only  required  his  care,  but 
also  demanded  a  force  of  Christian  teachers  adequate 
to  this  increasing  work.  So,  institutions  for  the 
systematic  training  of  teachers  and  preachers  had  to 
be  established.  Under  the  influence  of  these  schools 
intelligence  grew  apace  and  was  suitably  met  and 
satisfied  by  a  developing  Christian  literature — a  litera- 
ture which  met  the  needs  of  the  Christian  and 
heathen  alike. 

Moreover  as  he  studied  the  physical  condition  of 
the  surrounding  people  he  was  appalled  by  the  prev- 
alence of  disease  and  the  inadequacy,  yea,  even  the 
evil,  of  the  system  of  medical  treatment  which 
obtained  there;  and  so  his  heart  was  drawn  out  to 
the  need  of  making  some  provision  for  modern 
medical  aid.  As  the  community  continued  to  grow 
and  the  number  of  young  people  multiplied,  in 
church  and  congregation  alike,  he  became  impressed 
with  the  need  of  organizations  whereby  this  latent 
youthful  power  might  be  conserved,  increased  and 
utilized  for  the  Glory  of  God. 

In  this  way  the  primitive  missions  of  the  past  have 
actually  developed  into  the  powerful  organizations  of 
the  present.  One  must  study,  on  the  spot,  one  of 
the  larger  missions  of  India  today  in  order  to  ap- 


242 


INDIA'S  PROBLEM 


preciate  what  a  complicated  organism  it  is.  He  then 
will  see  how  it  has  sent  out  its  ramifications  into  all 
departments  of  life  and  of  Christian  activity.  It  has 
laid  its  hands,  in  organized  power,  upon  every  de- 
partment of  Christian  work  which  can  be  made  to 
contribute  to  the  furtherance  of  the  cause  of  Christ  in 
that  field.  In  this  way  have  come  into  existence  the 
following  departments,  which  are  represented  in 
more  or  less  fullness  in  all  the  missions  of  India  to- 
day. 

(a)  The  Evangelistic  Department. 

This,  as  we  have  seen,  is  the  oldest  as  it  is  the 
most  fundamental,  of  all  organized  missionary  activi- 
ties. And  it  should  retain  its  prominence  in  mission- 
ary effort.  It  was  preeminently  the  method  of 
Christ.  He  was  the  Heavenly  Messenger  proclaim- 
ing that  the  Kingdom  of  God  was  at  hand.  He  was 
first  of  all  the  great  Preacher;  **  and  the  people  every- 
where heard  Him  gladly."  The  missionary  of  the 
Cross  never  feels  that  he  is  more  directly  in  the  foot- 
steps of  his  Master  than  when  he  is  preaching  to  the 
unchurched  and  Christless  masses.  There  is  to  this 
work  a  joy  and  an  exhilaration  which  are  peculiarly 
its  own,  even  though  it  is  a  work  fraught  with 
physical  weariness.  I  have  felt,  in  the  prosecution 
of  this  work,  more  satisfaction  than  almost  in  any 
other.  Not  that  I  regard  it  as  the  most  successful 
form  of  labour.  It  is  not.  Even  as  a  direct 
evangelizing  agency,  I  believe  that  it  must  yield 
precedence  in  India  to  school-work.  The  faithful 
Christian  teacher  is  now  a  more  successful  evangelist 
in  that  land  than  the  preacher  himself.     And  yet  the 


ORGANIZATION  243 

preacher  reaches  and  offers  light  and  gracious  op- 
portunity to  the  more  benighted  and  the  more 
neglected  members  of  the  community.  Without 
making  special  choice  of  any  favoured  class  he  sows 
broadcast  the  seed,  preaches  the  divine  Word,  pray- 
ing that  the  Lord  himself,  who  also  preached  to  the 
common  people,  bestow  his  richest  blessing  upon 
the  labour  which  he  has  done  in  his  name. 

This  work  of  preaching  Christ  to  those  who  know 
him  not,  must  be  carried  on  by  missionaries  and 
agents.  It  is  usually  the  custom  to  expect  that  every 
mission  agent  shall  devote  some  of  his  time  in  visit- 
ing neighbouring  villages  and  in  gathering  the  people 
together  and  in  presenting  to  them,  in  all  simplicity, 
the  message  of  salvation.  Frequently  these  teachers, 
catechists  and  pastors  take  with  them  some  of  the 
members  of  their  congregations  to  help  them,  by 
song  and  by  the  influence  of  their  presence,  to  pre- 
sent their  message  effectively  to  the  people;  and  thus 
the  Christians  also  receive  a  most  useful  training  in 
this  elementary  part  of  Christian  service. 

From  time  to  time  special  itineracies  are  conducted 
by  a  band  of  mission  agents  who  will  spend  a  week 
or  more  in  traversing  a  whole  region,  preaching  in 
every  village  and  street  as  they  pass  along  their 
journey.  These  itineracies  are  conducted  in  various 
ways,  but  are  always  most  helpful  in  the  evangeliza- 
tion of  the  district. 

Some  of  the  best  organized  missions  are  adding 
emphasis  to  this  work  by  devoting  missionaries 
specially  to  the  conduct  of  it.  These  men  gather 
bands  of  native  preachers  around  them  who  spend 
their  time  and  strength  in  preaching  and  in  dissem- 


244         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

inating  gospel  truth  in  the  neglected  regions  of  their 
fields. 

Theological  seminaries  also  give  a  part  of  their  time 
to  this  excellent  work.  The  seminary,  with  which  1 
am  connected,  gave,  during  the  year  1900,  five  weeks 
to  village  work.  Teachers  and  students  travelled 
hundreds  of  miles  among  the  villages  of  the  neglected 
part  of  the  field  and  carried  the  message  to  more  than 
50,000  people.  This  was  not  only  a  joyful  service, 
it  was  also  a  most  helpful  experience  to  the  young 
students  while  undergoing  their  theological  training. 

But,  as  the  native  Church,  in  a  mission,  grows  in 
numbers  and  in  intelligence,  the  work  of  evangelism 
becomes  its  special  duty.  If  the  Church  does  not 
enter,  with  added  joy  and  power,  into  this  depart- 
ment of  its  work;  and  if  it  does  not  voluntarily  as- 
sume, with  ever  increasing  fullness,  this  form  of 
Christian  activity,  there  is  something  radically  wrong 
about  it.  It  should  be  the  prayer  and  purpose  of  the 
missionary  that  every  church  and  congregation  estab- 
lished by  him  become  a  centre  of  evangelistic  power, 
whence  will  radiate  divine  light  and  heat  into  adjacent 
hamlets  and  villages.  I  am  glad  to  say  that,  so  far  as 
my  observation  goes,  the  native  Church  is  undertak- 
ing this  work  with  increasing  zeal  and  with  a  grow- 
ing impulse  from  within,  rather  than  by  pressure 
from  without.  In  the  Madura  Mission,  through  the 
Home  Missionary  Society  and  its  auxiliaries,  and 
through  the  organizations  of  the  native  women,  at 
least  eighteen  men  and  women  are  being  supported 
for  this  especial  work  of  evangelism.  And  the  num- 
ber of  members  of  churches,  who  engage  voluntarily 
in  this  work,  is  every  year  growing. 


ORGANIZATION  245 

The  character  of  this  preaching  is  a  matter  of  im- 
portance.    In  India  it  should  be,  largely,  if  not  exclu- 
sively, constructive  rather  than  destructive.     Forces 
destructive  to  a  belief  in  Hinduism  and  its  numberless 
superstitions  have  multiplied  wonderfully  in  that  land 
during  the  last  fifty  years.     So  that  there  is  no  neces- 
sity,  today,  that  the  Christian  preacher  spend  any  of 
his  'time  in  attacking  the  errors  and  evils  of  the 
ancestral  faith  of  the  people.     He  should  give  him- 
self to  the  more  agreeable  and  blessed  work  of  im- 
parting the  living  truth  of  the  Gospel  in  all  directness 
and    simplicity.      The   destructive  agencies  of    the 
civilization,  knowledge  and  religious  institutions  of 
the  West  have  accomplished  their  work  and  have 
made  straight  the  pathway  of  the  Gospel  Messenger 
into  the  mind  and  heart  of  the  people.     Thus,  it  is 
not  the  abuse  of  the  old,  but  the  exposition  of  the 
new,   faith  which   should   occupy  the  time  of  the 
preacher  to  Hindus  today.     It  has  been  my  own  cus- 
tom, and  I  always  urge  it  upon  my  students,  to  avoid 
the  temptation  of  attacking  Hinduism,  and  to  preach 
a  simple  Gospel  of  salvation. 

{b)  Pastoral  Work. 

The  rapidly  increasing  number  of  churches  and 
congregations  has  added  much  to  the  pastoral  duties 
of  a  mission.  Formerly  missionaries  themselves 
acted  as  pastors  and  shepherded  the  flocks  in  the 
villages.  Even  today  some  of  the  German  missions 
have  missionary  pastors.  But  this  is  now  excep- 
tional. Missions  generally  have  learned  that,  for 
native  congregations,  native  pastors  are  essential. 
They  not  only  are  better  adapted,  by  nature  and  by 


246         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

training,  to  meet  the  needs  of  the  native  Church  ; 
they  are  also  the  only  ones  that  are  within  the  range 
of  the  financial  possibilities  of  self-support.  And 
self-support  must  be  ever  held  before  the  church  as 
a  high  future  blessing  and  duty  of  the  Christian  com- 
munity. 

And  yet  the  day  when  the  pastoral  work  can  be 
effectively  and  satisfactorily  done  by  the  natives 
themselves  has  hardly  arrived.  Few  native  pastors 
today,  and  much  fewer  catechists,  are  competent, 
both  on  the  score  of  character  and  of  independence, 
to  wisely  direct  the  affairs  of  their  people  and  to 
efficiently  preserve  church  discipline.  This  is  a  sad 
confession  to  make;  but  truth  compels  me  to  make 
it — a  truth  emphasized  more  than  once  by  long  ex- 
perience among  them.  A  few  years  ago  a  church 
within  my  jurisdiction  wished  to  expel  a  leading 
member  whom  it  knew  to  be  a  godless  man.  He 
had  become  a  curse  to  the  community,  and  nothing 
but  excommunication  seemed  wise  or  possible.  I 
visited  the  church  for  the  purpose  of  assisting  the 
pastor  in  the  administration  of  the  Lord's  Supper  and 
of  studying  the  general  condition  of  the  church.  And 
we  attempted,  congregationally,  to  discipline  this 
member.  The  church  was  asked  to  vote,  in  case  it 
thought  wise,  to  excommunicate  the  man;  but  not  a 
hand  was  raised.  The  matter  was  further  explained 
to  them,  and  all  those  who  were  in  favour  of  his  ex- 
pulsion were  requested  to  raise  the  hand.  Again  not 
a  hand  was  raised  I  The  pastor,  thereupon,  explained 
the  situation  by  stating  that  the  people  were  afraid  of 
the  man  and  dared  not  vote  against  him  even  though 
he  was  not  present.    The  pastor  was  himself  equally 


THEOLOGICAL  STUDENTS  WITH  THEIR  FAMILIES. 


GROUP   OF  MADURA  PASTORS. 


ORGANIZATION  247 

timid  in  the  situation.  Thereupon  I  asked  those  of 
them  who  desired  that  /  should  act  in  this  matter /or 
the  church  to  raise  the  hand;  whereupon  every  hand 
of  pastor  and  people  was  immediately  raised;  and  I 
fulfilled  their  wish  by  excommunicating,  in  their 
name,  the  evil  member! 

This  may  or  may  not  be  Congregationalism ;  but  it 
illustrates  the  fact  which  I  am  now  dwelling  upon, 
viz. :  that  for  the  present,  both  pastor  and  people  are 
unequal  to  the  severe  duties  of  church  discipline. 
Every  month  the  missionary  is  confronted  with  simi- 
lar situations  which  reveal  to  him  the  necessity  of  his 
presence  as  a  superintending  pastor  and  the  urgent 
need  of  his  wisdom  to  direct  the  affairs  of  the 
church,  his  firmness  to  put  an  end  to  many  impossi- 
ble situations,  and  his  inspiration  to  tone  up  and  give 
backbone  to  pastors  and  other  agents  connected  with 
him.  It  should  not  be  forgotten  that,  while  the  in- 
fant community  connected  with  each  mission  has 
many  admirable  traits  of  piety  and  of  character,  it  is 
still  the  victim  of  great  weakness  in  matters  of  purity, 
of  fellowship  and  of  Christian  peace.  So  that  if  the 
Church  is  to  be  preserved  from  many  intolerable  evils 
and  brought  into  the  noble  traits  of  a  Christian  char- 
acter which  will  impress  itself  upon  the  non-Christian 
community  there  must  be  firm  guidance,  stern  repres- 
sion of  evil  and  wise  inspiration  to  good  on  the  part 
of  the  native  pastoral  force  under  the  bracing  influ- 
ence of  missionary  guidance.  To  those  who  are 
conversant  with  the  condition  of  the  native  Church 
in  India  there  is  a  supreme  conviction  that  its  greatest 
danger  lies  in  the  irregularity  of  the  life  of  its  mem- 
bers and  in  its  want  of  firm  discipline  and  the  pres- 


248         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

ervation  of  purity  rather  than  in  the  fewness  of 
accessions  from  heathenism.  Hence  the  importance 
of  the  work  of  shepherding  Christ's  feeble  flock  in 
that  land.  The  training  of  suitable  native  agents  for 
this  work  is  a  duty  of  paramount  importance;  and 
the  training  must  be  continued  through  their  life  by 
the  presence  of  the  missionary  to  guide,  restrain  and 
inspire. 

{c)  The  Educational  Department. 

In  large,  well-organized  missions,  the  educational 
department  is  now  perhaps  the  most  important  and 
all-pervasive.  As  a  mission  grows,  this  department 
usually  develops  more  rapidly  than  any  other  of  its 
organized  activities.  This  work  is  divided  into  three 
classes : 

Schools  for  Non-Christians. 

These  are  especially  established  with  a  view  to 
reaching  and  affecting  the  non-Christian  community. 
They  have  developed  wonderfully  during  the  last 
half-century  and  hold  an  important  place  in  the 
economy  of  missions.  They  represent  the  leaven  of 
Christianity  in  India.  They  are  preeminently  an  evan- 
gelistic agency.  They  furnish  excellent  opportunity 
to  present  Christ  and  His  Gospel  of  salvation  to  a 
large  host  of  young  people  under  very  favorable  cir- 
cumstances. These  institutions  are  of  two  classes — 
primary  schools  in  villages  and  high  schools  and  col- 
leges at  centres  of  influence  and  culture. 

They  have  been  the  object  of  attack  from  men  of 
narrow  missionary  sympathy  and  of  limited  horizon. 
These  men  claim  that  money  expended  on  such  insti- 


ORGANIZATION  249 

tutions  is  a  waste  of  mission  funds.     But  they  have 
failed  to  recognize  the  significant  fact,  which  I  have 
already  mentioned,  that  these  institutions  undoubt- 
edly furnish    the  best  opportunity  for    missionary 
evangelistic  work.     And  1  fearlessly  maintain  that 
more  conversions  take  place,  and  more  accessions  are 
made,  through  these  schools  than  through  any  other 
agency,  apart  from  the  Christian  Church  itself.    Not 
a  few  of  the  village  primary  schools  become  nuclei 
to  Christian  congregations,   which  flourish  and  de- 
velop   into   Christian   churches.     And  through    the 
higher  institutions  some  of  the  best  and  strongest 
members  of  the  Christian  community  have  been  won 
from  Hinduism.     All  this,  apart  from  the  fact  that 
these  institutions  perform  an  unspeakably  important 
function  in  the  dissemination  of  light  throughout  the 
whole  Hindu  community  and  in  the  leavening  of  the 
whole  mass  of  Hindu  thought  and  institutions.     The 
good  done  by  this  class  of   institutions  is  beyond 
computation  in  that  land. 

Schools  for  Christian  Children. 

It  is  the  worthy  ambition  of  every  mission  and 
missionary  to  train  the  children  of  the  Christians  so 
that  they  may  rise,  not  only  in  intelligence,  but  also 
in  social  life  and  position.  Under  this  class  of 
schools  the  native  Christian  community  is  being 
rapidly  developed  and  educated,  so  that  it  is  already 
in  advance  of  any  other  community  in  general 
literacy. 

Among  these  schools  for  Christians  are  industrial 
institutions  for  the  training  of  boys  and  girls  in 
manual  labour.     At  the  present  time  there  seems  to  be 


250         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

a  growing  tendency  to  magnify  this  department  of 
work.  These  schools  are  given  to  training  in  car- 
pentry, blacksmithing,  weaving,  brass-work,  rattan- 
work,  etc.  The  Germans  have  entered  more  fully 
into  this  effort  than  any  other  missions  in  India.  But 
they  are  not  loud  in  its  praise  as  a  department  of 
mission  work.  It  certainly  has  both  merits  and 
demerits  which  we  shall  consider  later. 

During  the  last  decade  a  few  missionaries  have 
launched  out  upon  a  new  enterprise  in  the  shape  of 
Peasant  Settlements.  One  object  of  these  is  to  train 
the  poor  and  improvident  members  of  the  commu- 
nity, especially  the  socially  submerged  classes,  to 
habits  of  thrift,  economy  and  independence.  It  is 
also  conducted  as  a  philanthropy  for  the  purpose  of 
raising  the  people  socially  and  industrially  through 
new  methods  and  forms  of  agriculture.  This  move- 
ment is  still  in  its  infancy. 

Training  Institutions  for  Mission  Agents. 

It  is  the  duty  of  every  mission  to  train  for  itself  an 
efficient  class  of  men  and  women  who  shall  conduct 
all  the  departments  of  missionary  work  and  gradually 
relieve  the  missionary  of  many  of  his  duties.  These 
schools  are  of  many  kinds  corresponding  with  the 
various  classes  of  agencies  required. 

This  may  be  illustrated  by  the  institutions  now 
found  in  the  Madura  Mission.  Nearly  every  one  of 
the  twelve  out-stations  of  that  mission  has  a  board- 
ing school  for  Christian  boys  and  girls.  The  best 
students  who  graduate  from  these  schools,  especially 
those  who  are  deemed  worthy  to  become  future  can- 
didates for  mission  service,  go  to  Pasumalai  and  to 


ORGANIZATION  25 1 

Madura  for  further,  and  professional,  training.  At 
Pasumalai  young  men  may  pass  through  the  High 
School  and  even  the  college  department.  They  are 
then  placed  in  the  normal  department,  to  qualify 
them  as  teachers,  or  in  the  Theological  Seminary,  to 
prepare  them  as  preachers  and  pastors.  So,  also, 
girls  are  placed  in  the  Madura  Girls'  High  and  Training 
School  and  are  there  qualified  for  one  of  three  grades 
of  teachership.  Or  they  may  be  placed  in  the  Bible 
Woman's  Training  School  where  they  receive  a  two- 
years'  course  of  training  for  work  as  Bible  women. 

The  only  class  of  agents  which  is  not  trained  by 
the  Madura  Mission  is  that  of  medical  assistants.  1 
trust  that  the  mission's  desire  for  funds  to  establish 
this  work  also  may  be  gratified  and  that  thus  we  may 
have  the  means  of  training  suitable  agents  for  every 
department  of  our  missionary  work.  No  mission 
can  be  complete  unless  it  has  some  means  of  furnish- 
ing itself  with  an  efficient  agency  to  conduct  all  de- 
partments of  its  activity. 

The  only  danger  connected  with  the  excellent  edu- 
cational department  of  work  is,  lest  it  should  outgrow 
and  overshadow  all  other  departments.  This  danger 
is  at  present  manifesting  itself  in  some  missions.  It 
is  an  attractive  form  of  work  which  allures  the  mis- 
sionary; and,  for  several  reasons,  he  yields  to  the 
temptation  of  emphasizing  it  out  of  proportion  to  its 
relative  value  and  gives  more  time  and  money  to  it 
than  a  wise  place  in  mission  economy  demands. 
The  ideal  arrangement  for  a  mission  would  seem  to 
be  to  keep  well  in  front  its  evangelistic  and  pastoral 
endeavour,  and  to  utihze  all  forms  of  educational  work 
with  a  view  to  strengthening  and  furthering  these. 


252         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

It  is  true  that  certain  missions,  like  certain  individuals, 
have  a  special  genius  or  talent  of  their  own;  and 
their  highest  success  will  depend  upon  their  follow- 
ing that  bent.  For  instance,  the  Free  Church  of 
Scotland,  in  South  India,  has  shown  eminent  ability 
and  taste  in  the  work  of  education.  It  has  met  with 
distinguished  success  in  that  line  of  effort,  and  its 
college  for  boys  and  high  schools  for  girls  in  Madras 
bear  testimony  to  its  eminent  success  in  this  depart- 
ment. In  evangelistic  work  it  has  thus  far  neither 
shown  much  interest  nor  large  aptitude.  The  Wes- 
leyan  Methodists,  on  the  other  hand,  are  born  evan- 
gelists and  find  their  chief  success  as  preachers  of  the 
gospel.  Each  mission  should  not  only  consider  its 
field  and  its  claims  and  needs,  it  should  also  study  its 
own  corporate  gift  and  bent  and  then  strive  to  de- 
velop its  work  mainly  upon  those  lines  which  are 
most  congenial  to  it. 

{d)  Literary  Work. 

The  creation  and  circulation  of  a  healthy  Christian 
literature  has  always  been  recognized  by  our  missions 
as  a  work  of  paramount  importance.  While  not 
many  missionaries  have  devoted  themselves  exclu- 
sively to  this  work,  yet  not  a  little  has  been  accom- 
plished in  it  by  the  missions.  If  not  much  that  is 
original  and  brilliant  has  issued  from  the  missionary 
pen;  and  if  it  stands  sadly  true  that  too  few  have 
seriously  undertaken  this  work;  it  is  nevertheless  a 
cause  of  thanksgiving  that  Christian  truth  has  been 
extensively  expounded  and  defended  by  them,  and 
that  they  have  sent  forth  from  the  press  a  continual 
stream  of  blessing  to  all  the  people. 


ORGANIZATION  253 

i(\  India,  three  strong  societies  aid  the  missions  by 
engaging  directly  in  the  production  and  dissemination 
of  Christian  literature.  These  are  the  Bible  Society, 
the  Tract  Society  and  the  Christian  Literature  Society. 
These  institutions  have  spent  large  sums  of  money  in 
the  translation,  revision  and  circulation  of  the  Holy 
Scriptures  and  in  the  furnishing  of  fresh,  readable  and 
informing  tracts  and  books  in  explanation,  illustration 
and  defense  of  Christianity.*  The  far-reaching  results 
of  the  work  of  these  societies  no  one  can  adequately 
estimate.  The  need  of  this  department  of  work  is 
not  only  great,  it  is  growing  annually.  Missions 
feel  this  keenly  and  are  unwilling  to  depend  entirely 
upon  the  above  mentioned  societies.  Each  mission 
of  any  importance  has  one,  or  more,  printing  estab- 
lishments with  which  it  can  prepare  and  issue  tracts 
and  books  of  its  own,  and  whereby  it  may  present 
special  truths  and  teachings  which  seem  to  it  urgently 
needed  by  its  people.  Through  these  presses  the 
missions  publish  also  147  newspapers  and  magazines 
for  the  special  use  of  the  Christian  people  and  others. 
In  this  way  forty-one  printing  establishments,  em- 
ploying no  fewer  than  2,000  men,  are  utilized  by  the 
Protestant  missions  of  India  in  the  production  of 
healthy  literature  for  the  furtherance  of  the  cause  of 
Christ  in  that  land. 

In  this  department  two  special  classes  are  kept  in 
view.  The  growing  Christian  community  must  be 
provided  with  suitable  books  in  the  vernaculars. 
Books  devotional  for  the  mass  of  Christians,  and 
text-books  for  the  students  in  our  professional 
schools,  and  helpful  books  of  instruction  for  the 
large  body  of  Christian  agents  are  needed.     All  these 

*  See  statistical  table  at  end  of  the  book.  To  these  results  might  be 
added  those  of  many  missions  which  have  no  society  connected  with  th^nj 
but  which  print  millions  of  pages  of  Christian  literature  annually. 


254         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

make  an  increasing  demand  upon  the  literary  fertility 
of  writers  and  authors  on  the  mission  field. 

There  is  also  a  growing  demand,  and  an  urgent 
need,  for  good  books  adapted  to  the  non-Christian 
community — such  tracts  and  books  as  can  present  to 
them,  in  an  attractive  and  convincing  way,  the  special 
truths  and  the  supreme  excellence  of  our  faith.  The 
number  is  annually  increasing,  both  among  native 
Christians  and  in  the  non-Christian  community,  of 
those  who  can  read  and  whose  taste  for  books  is 
growing. 

This  method  of  approach  to  the  mind  of  the  people 
has  peculiar  advantages  of  its  own.  The  prejudices 
connected  with  Christian  instruction,  as  it  proceeds 
directly  from  the  lips  of  the  teacher  or  preacher,  does 
not  exist  in  connection  with  tracts  and  books.  These 
printed  messengers  of  truth  and  salvation  quietly  and 
effectively  do  their  work  in  the  silent  hours  of  the 
night  and  in  the  secret  recesses  of  the  woods  or  of 
the  solitary  chamber.  And  this  message  is  the  more 
effective  because  it  may  be  read  and  pondered  more 
than  once,  until  its  truth  grips  the  soul  in  convicting 
and  saving  power. 

The  power  of  the  printed  page,  as  a  Christian  mes- 
senger in  India,  is  second  to  none  at  present;  and  its 
influence  will  multiply  mightily  as  the  years  increase. 
Missions  and  individual  missionaries  should  enter 
more  fully  into  this  work;  none  needs  increasing  em- 
phasis more  than  this;  and  none  has  larger  hopes  of 
preeminence  in  the  great  work  of  India's  redemption. 
Missionary  societies  also  should  devote  more  men, 
than  in  the  past,  to  the  creation  of  a  strong  Christian 
literature. 


ORGANIZATION  255 

And  even  where  missions  are  too  weak  to  publish 
anything  of  their  own  and  are  unable  to  write  books 
or  tracts;  there  is  a  wide  field  of  usefulness  open  to 
them  in  a  thoroughly  systematic  and  energetic  work 
of  distributing  the  existing  literature  produced  by  the 
great  societies.  In  some  missions  this  work  of  circu- 
lating Scriptures  and  Christian  books  has  been  re- 
duced almost  to  a  science  and  has  become  an  exceed- 
ingly efficient  help  to  the  cause  in  those  districts. 
Other  missions  have  yet  to  learn  the  importance  and 
blessing  of  this  activity. 

(e)  Medical  Work, 

This  department  of  missionary  effort  has  a  wide 
sphere  of  usefulness.*  Though  not  so  urgently  nec- 
essary now  as  in  former  times  in  India,  owing  to  the 
ubiquitous  and  efficient  Government  Medical  Depart- 
ment, it  is  nevertheless  popular  and  very  useful. 
This  is  specially  so  when  the  whole  work  and  its 
agency  are  brought  into  full  subjection  to  the  Chris- 
tian, as  distinct  from  the  purely  humanitarian,  motive. 
No  other  department  is  more  capable  of  being  utilized 
as  an  evangelizing  agency;  and  in  many  missions  its 
influence  is  thus  widely  felt.  Everywhere  its  aid  to 
other  departments  of  mission  work  is  much  ap- 
preciated through  its  ability  to  gain  friends  for  our 
cause  among  those  who  would  otherwise  be  inimical; 
and  in  preparing  the  hearts  of  many  to  receive  spiritual 
help  from  the  Great  Physician.  No  fewer  than  forty 
hospitals,  besides  many  dispensaries,  are  conducted 
by  Protestant  missions  in  India  today.  Many  of  the 
medical  missionaries  give  their  whole  time  to  this 
work;  others  conduct  the  medical  as  only  one  of  the 

*  3ee  statistical  table  at  the  end  of  the  book, 


256         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

departments  of  their  missionary  activity.  To  each 
method  there  are  advantages  and  disadvantages; 
though,  perhaps,  the  medical  missionary  finds  great- 
est usefulness  when  he  gives  himself  entirely  to  his 
profession  as  physician.  But,  in  that  case,  he  needs 
tenfold  caution  lest  the  distinctively  missionary  idea 
of  his  life-work  should  be  subjected  to,  or  lost  in,  the 
professional  and  the  humanitarian  spirit. 

Medical  work  for  women  and  children  finds  in 
India  today  perhaps  its  most  urgent  call.  There  is 
more  need  and  suffering  among  them  than  among 
men. 

(/)  Work  for  Women. 

From  the  first,  missions  have  not  neglected 
woman.  She  has  been  their  care,  and  her  conver- 
sion and  elevation  their  ambition.  But,  in  recent 
times,  much  has  been  added  to  this.  Not  only  have 
separate  and  definite  forms  of  work  been  opened  for 
women;  organized  work  by  women  in  their  behalf 
has  suddenly  taken  high  rank  and  attained  consider- 
able popularity  among  Christian  peoples.  Under 
Women's  Missionary  Societies  fully  i,ooo  ladies  have 
come  to  India  and  are  giving  themselves  exclusively 
to  work  for  their  Indian  sisters.  All  forms  of  effort 
are  undertaken  in  their  behalf.  Assisted  by  an  army 
of  thousands  of  native  Bible  women,  Zenana  workers 
and  mistresses,  these  ladies  perform  their  noble  serv- 
ice. Hindu  homes  are  daily  and  everywhere  visited, 
and  the  seed  of  Christian  life  and  truth  sown;  thou- 
sands of  non-Christian  girls  and  young  women  are 
instructed  and  initiated  into  the  mysteries  of  Bible 
truth    and    Christian    life;    and    Christian   woman- 


ORGANIZATION  257 

hood  is  being  developed,  more  rapidly  indeed  than 
Christian  manhood,  into  a  thing  of  strength  and 
beauty.  In  the  town  of  Madura  alone  thirty-one 
Bible  women  have  access  to  1,000  non-Christian 
homes  where  Bible  instruction  is  gladly  received. 
Another  staff  of  twenty-one  Christian  workers  in- 
structs daily,  in  five  schools,  500  Hindu  and  Moham- 
medan girls.  Also  a  High  and  Training  school  for 
Christian  girls,  with  256  pupils;  and  a  Bible  woman's 
training  school,  with  seventeen  students,  complete 
this  organized  work  for  women  in  that  town.  From 
it,  as  a  centre,  seventeen  other  women  visit  and 
work  in  seventy-two  different  villages  and  instruct 
1,005  pupils.  No  work  at  present  is  more  important 
or  finds  more  encouragement  than  this  organized 
activity  for  women. 

{g)  Work  for  the  Young. 

Ours  is  preeminently  the  age  of  youth — the  time 
when  the  importance  of  work  for  the  young  is  fully 
appreciated,  and  when  manifold  activities  are  put 
forth  by  the  Christian  Church  in  their  behalf.  Dur- 
ing recent  years  such  activity  has  been  extensively 
introduced  into  mission  fields.  In  India  at  present, 
Y.  M.  C.  A.,  Y.  W.  C.  A.,  Y.  P.  S.  C.  E.,  Epworth 
League,  Sunday-school  Union  and  a  host  of  other 
less-known  organizations  for  the  young  have  es- 
tablished themselves  and  are  working  with  much 
enthusiasm.  In  former  years  little  was  done  for  the 
young  of  the  infant  Christian  communities.  The 
old  Oriental  idea  that  young  people  are  of  no  ac- 
count, and  that  effort  in  their  behalf  is  hardly  worth 
while,  obtained  in  India  until  recent  years.     The  con- 


258         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

sequence  was  that  the  children  of  Christian  congrega- 
tions were  neglected  and  allowed  to  absent  them- 
selves from  Christian  services  and  to  grow  up  in 
ignorance  and  heathenish  darkness.  As  a  result  of 
this  many  of  these  boys  and  girls,  when  they  grew 
up  into  manhood  and  womanhood,  reverted  to 
heathenism  ;  and  many  flourishing  Christian  con- 
gregations of  the  last  generation  became  defunct.  It 
is  now  understood,  with  increasing  distinctness,  that 
the  permanent  success  and  growth  of  a  Christian 
congregation,  as  of  the  whole  Christian  commu- 
nity, depends  more  upon  the  effort  which  is  exer- 
cised in  behalf  of  the  young  than  upon  any  amount 
of  labour  lavished  upon  those  of  maturer  years. 
Hence,  more  activity,  of  an  organized  type,  is 
being  wisely  put  forth  in  behalf  of  the  children 
and  of  young  people.  The  more  plastic,  respon- 
sive, tenacious  mind  of  the  young  takes  in  more 
readily,  appreciates  more  keenly  and  clings  with 
more  persistence  to  religious  instruction  and  inspira- 
tion imparted  to  it  than  does  that  of  the  older  mem- 
bers of  the  community.  The  Christian  worker  thus 
finds  earlier  and  greater  fruit  to  his  labour  among  the 
young  than  among  the  old.  Any  enthusiasm  im- 
parted by  him  to  the  young  people  is  also,  sooner  or 
later,  apt  to  be  carried  by  them  to  the  older  members 
of  the  congregation  or  church.  The  hope  of  the 
Church  in  India  lies  in  the  young  people;  and  that 
missionary,  or  native  agent,  who  can  best  organize 
the  young  into  useful  forms  of  outgoing  Christian 
activity,  will  do  most  for  the  Church  of  the  present 
and  future.  And,  while  so  excellent  an  agency  as 
the  Christian  Endeavor  Society  is  available  for  use  in 


A  JUNIOR  CHKi«TlAN  ENDEAVOR  SOCIETY, 


A   VILLAGE   CHRISTIAN   SCHOOL. 


ORGANIZATION  259 

this  line  of  work,  the  missionary  need  not  be  dis- 
couraged, but  may  feel  confident  that  he  has  within 
his  power  an  organization  rich  in  promise  of  blessing 
to  his  whole  community. 

(/?)  Organisations  for  the  Special  Activities  of  the 
Native  Christian  Community. 

Every  mission  should  encourage  all  forms  of  wise 
and  necessary  organization  for  the  furtherance  of  the 
highest  life  of  the  community  itself.  And  this  chiefly 
with  a  view  to  developing  self-dependence  in  the 
community.  These  organizations  will  be  naturally 
divided  into  two  classes. 

Those  JVhich  Promote  Self-Government. 

The  Christian  Church  in  the  mission  field  should 
be  organized  ecclesiastically  and  administratively  in 
such  a  way  that  it  may  ultimately,  and  as  speedily  as 
may  seem  wise,  become  entirely  self-governing. 
Every  mission  should  aim  to  so  teach  the  people  that 
they  may  control  and  conduct  successfully  their  own 
affairs.  It  should  establish  a  Church  which  sends  its 
roots  deep  into  the  soil  of  the  land  and  which  will 
become,  in  the  highest  sense,  indigenous.  One  of 
the  necessary  evils  of  missionary  life  is  the  early 
Western  control  and  guidance  of  everything.  I 
should  like  to  see  the  day,  when  the  native  Church 
can  establish  that  polity  which  is  most  congenial  to 
its  taste  and  run  its  affairs  independently  and  on 
Oriental  lines,  in  such  a  way  as  to  win  more  effect- 
ively the  people  of  India  to  Christ.  The  question  is 
sometimes  asked, — "Must  our  Congregational  mis- 
sions bind,  to  our  Congregational  form  of  ecclesias- 


26o         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

tical  government,  the  people  whom  they  bring  over 
from  heathenism?  Must  our  church  polity,  in  the 
mission  field,  be  Congregational,  or  Presbyterian,  etc., 
regardless  of  its  adaptation,  or  want  of  adaptation, 
to  the  people  ?  "  The  affirmative  answer  has  usually 
been  given  by  all  societies  (and  wrongly  I  think)  to 
this  inquiry;  and  thus  every  denomination  trans- 
plants into  heathen  lands,  with  renewed  emphasis, 
not  only  its  own  peculiar  shibboleths  of  doctrine;  it 
also  exalts  to  a  heavenly  command  the  government 
and  ritual  which  it  represents. 

Missions  in  India  are  conscientiously  endeavouring, 
with  varying  degrees  of  wisdom  and  success,  to  lead 
forward  their  people  in  the  line  of  self-government. 
But  both  love  of  power  and  a  conviction  of  the  in- 
ability of  the  infant  Church  to  wisely  control  its 
affairs,  combine  to  render  this  transfer  of  power 
from  the  mission  to  the  native  Church  a  very  slow 
matter — more  slow  than  seems  wise  to  many  be- 
sides the  leaders  of  the  native  Church  themselves. 
It  is  a  significant  fact,  in  India  today,  that  the  Metho- 
dist missions,  by  their  compact  organization,  are  able 
to,  or  at  any  rate  do,  confer  more  ecclesiastical  and 
administrative  power  upon  the  native  Church  than 
any  other  mission;  while  Congregational  missions — 
the  least  organized — are  the  most  backward  in  this 
matter.  A  study  for  the  causes  of  this  would  be 
instructive. 

Those  Organiiations  Which  Promote  Self-Extension. 

One  of  the  first  things  that  a  mission  should  do, 
after  gathering  the  Christian  community,  is  to  or- 
ganize, in  the  community,  such  activities  as  are  out- 


ORGANIZATION  261 

reaching  and  self-extending.  In  the  Madura  Mission 
there  has  been  for  many  years  a  Home  Missionary 
Society  whose  aim  is  to  help  support  weak  churches 
and  also  maintain  a  force  of  evangelists  to  preach  to 
non-Christians.  It  is  the  society  of  the  native  Chris- 
tians— supported  and  largely  directed  by  them.  It 
has  created,  maintained  and  increased  the  interest  of 
the  people  in  furthering  the  cause  of  Christ. 

Many  such  societies  exist  in  India  today  and  they 
render  valuable  service  in  keeping  before  the  mind  of 
the  people  the  deepest  characteristics  of  our  faith  and 
the  highest  privilege  of  a  Christian  community — that 
of  outgoing  love,  and  self-extending  enthusiasm. 

Those  Organi^^attons  Which  Further  Self-Support. 

How  extensively  should  the  idea  of  self-support 
be  at  present  urged  upon  the  native  Christian  com- 
munity ?  This  is  a  question  which  we  will  discuss 
later  on.  There  is  no  question  however  but  that 
every  mission  should  so  organize  its  benevolences 
that  the  infant  Church  may,  at  as  early  a  date  as  pos- 
sible, cease  to  seek  support  from  a  foreign  land;  and 
that  it  cultivate  at  the  same  time  a  spirit  of  self-denial 
and  of  self-reliance.  The  poverty  of  the  people  is, 
and  will  long  remain,  a  serious  barrier  to  this  con- 
summation. But  the  evil  of  poverty  may  be  coun- 
terbalanced by  a  careful  system  whereby  the  benevo- 
lent feelings,  generous  impulses  and  the  sense  of 
obligation  of  the  people  are  conserved,  strengthened 
and  made  fully  effective.  This  matter  should  not  be 
left  to  haphazard  or  to  spasmodic  appeal.  Every 
Christian,  even  the  poorest,  should  be  so  directed  and 


262         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

inspired  in  his  benevolence  tliat  he  may  effectively 
contribute  to  the  worthy  object  of  self-support. 

These  three  desiderata  of  the  native  Christian 
Church — self-support,  self-propagation  and  self-gov- 
ernment— are  to  be  desired  above  all  other  blessings 
by  the  missions  and  should  be  sought  with  a  persist- 
ence and  a  well-organized  intelligence,  which  will 
mean  advance  and  ultimate  success.  When  these 
three  have  been  attained,  missions,  with  all  their  ex- 
pensive machinery,  may  gladly  disband  and  feel  that 
their  end  has  been  accomplished  and  that  they  are  no 
longer  needed. 


IX 
PRESENT  DAY  MISSIONARY  PROBLEMS 

EVERY  age  has  its  own  problems  to  solve;  and 
so  has  every  department  of  life.  The  problems 
which  belong  to  missionary  life,  method  and 
work  are  many.  The  permanence  and  future  success 
of  the  missionary  effort  of  the  Church  of  God  depends 
upon  the  wise  solution  of  these  problems.  Nowhere 
is  this  more  manifest  than  in  India.  In  that  land 
Christian  effort  for  the  conversion  of  the  people  has 
been  made  for  many  centuries  by  numerous  nation- 
alities and  Christian  communities  with  varying  suc- 
cess or  want  of  success.  Unwillingness  or  an  in- 
ability to  thoroughly  confront  and  master  the  deep 
problems  of  the  field,  the  work  and  the  people,  with 
a  view  to  adapting  Christianity  to  them  has  largely 
been  the  cause  of  the  slow  progress  of  our  faith  in 
that  land.  Successive  efforts  by  the  Greek,  the 
Syrian,  the  Romish  and  the  Protestant  Churches  have 
not  been  prolific  in  marked  and  permanent  results, 
simply  because  they  have  not  adequately  studied  the 
novel  and  strange  conditions  of  the  land  and  the  best 
methods  of  presenting  Christ  and  His  truth. 

We  need  in  India,  today,  highest  wisdom  in  order 
to  establish  worthy  missions,  and  to  conduct  them  in 
the  right  and  best  way  so  as  to  attain  results  com- 
mensurate with  the  resources  of  the  kingdom  and  of 
the  great  King  whose  we  are  and  whom  we  preach. 
The  missionary  problems  of  today  are  many. 
263 


264         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

I.  The  initial  and  preliminary  question  as  to  the 
right  of  the  Christian  Church  to  send  forth  its  mis- 
sionaries, and  to  establish  its  missions  in  heathen 
lands. 

This  question  is  now  raised  by  many.  They  ask 
it  because  they  believe  in  the  integrity  of  the  doctrine 
of  evolution.  "Why  do  you  not,"  they  say,  **  leave 
those  non-Christian  peoples  to  work  out  their  own 
salvation  through  a  natural  evolution  of  their  own 
faiths  }  Let  those  old  crude  religions  pass  into  some- 
thing higher  through  the  natural  process  of  evolution 
rather  than  resort  to  the  cataclysmic  method  of  over- 
throwing the  old  and  introducing  a  faith  that  is 
entirely  foreign.  Why  not  let  the  process  of  growth 
work  out  its  own  results  even  though  it  takes  a  long 
time  for  it?" 

This  objection  to  our  work  is  modern  and  thorough- 
going. Of  course  it  is  equally  pronounced  against 
supernaturalism  in  all  its  forms  and  ramifications. 
It  would  be  futile  to  reply  to  this  by  appealing  to  the 
command  of  our  Lord  to  go  and  disciple  all  nations. 
It  is  enough  to  remind  this  objector  that  the  doctrine 
of  evolution  admits  that  the  highest  altruism  is  a  part 
of  the  evolution  process.  And  if  that  is  so,  then  the 
highest  Christian  altruism  must  find  its  noblest  exer- 
cise in  the  work  of  bringing,  by  Christians  to  non- 
Christians,  those  ideas  and  that  life  which  they  deem 
the  best  and  of  which  those  outside  of  Christ  stand 
in  urgent  need.  The  highest  evolution  of  our  race 
has  been,  and  ever  must  be,  through  that  Christian 
altruism  which  will  not  rest  until  the  noblest  truth 
and  the  fullest  life  are  brought  to  all  the  benighted 
souls  of  our  race.     Is  not  this  the  last  message  of 


MISSIONART  PROBLEMS  265 

evolution  to  us  at  this  present  ?  And  is  it  not  iden- 
tical with  the  last  commission  of  our  Lord  to  His  fol- 
lowers— to  go  and  disciple  the  nations  ?  And  while 
it  is  the  function  of  Christianity  to  maintain  the  evo- 
lution principle  of  the  survival  of  the  fittest,  it  does 
this  by  indirection— by  seizing  upon  the  most  unfit 
and  unworthy  and  making  them  fit  to  stand  before 
God  and  worthy  to  enjoy  the  life  eternal  in  all  its 
glory. 

Moving  a  step  forward  we  come  to, — 

Another  problem  kindred  to  the  one  mentioned — 
one  which  concerns  the  aims  and  the  results  which 
should  animate  missionary  endeavour. 

2.  What  shall  a  man  or  a  mission  entertain  as  a 
motive  or  as  an  aim  to  be  attained  and  as  results 
worthy  of  achievement  in  missionary  work? 

This  question  also  is  based  upon  and  will  cover 
very  largely  the  character  of  the  work  accomplished. 

There  are  two  distinct  and  separate  motives  and 
aims  impelling  Christians,  at  the  present  time,  to 
missionary  effort.  They  are,  in  the  main,  an  em- 
phasis given,  respectively,  to  each  of  Christ's  two 
final  commands  to  his  disciples  upon  earth. 

In  the  first  instance  his  last  commission  to  his  fol- 
lowers to  go  and  make  disciples  of  the  nations  is 
taken  as  the  watch-word;  and  this  has  always  meant 
thorough,  patient,  all-inclusive  effort  for  the  redemp- 
tion and  elevation  of  all  the  races  of  the  earth. 

The  other  class  has  taken  as  its  watch-word  our 
Lord's  last  utterance  upon  earth — "  Ye  shall  be  My 
witnesses."  "Witness-bearing"  has  become  to 
them  the  expression  of  the  Church's  great  duty  to 
the  world. 


266         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

There  is  a  great  difference  between  these  two 
classes  of  aims  and  motives,  and  they  are  associated 
with  two  classes  of  theological  thmking.  According 
to  the  former  theory  the  Kingdom  of  our  Lord,  under 
the  dispensation  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  is  to  spread  in 
regenerating  power  and  triumphant  efficacy  until  all 
the  nations  of  the  earth  shall  come  under  its  sway. 
This  is  a  great  and  arduous  undertaking.  The  plant- 
ing of  this  Kingdom  in  heathen  lands  and  the  dis- 
cipling  of  those  people  until  the  Church  of  God  shall 
have  become  a  living  and  a  self-propagating  church 
in  all  the  regions  of  the  earth  is  a  work  of  ages, 
worthy  of  the  combined  effort  of  heaven  and  earth. 
And  this  consummation  will  surely  take  place.  God 
has  promised  it;  Christ's  work  involves  it;  the  Holy 
Spirit  came  into  the  world  for  its  realization.  They 
who  entertain  this  belief  are  Christian  optimists.  No 
reverses  can  daunt  them;  no  opposition  can  dis- 
courage them.  They  lay  broad  and  deep  the  foun- 
dations of  their  work  and  labour  patiently  but  hope- 
fully for  the  great  and  final  consummation. 

Those,  on  the  other  hand,  who  are  pessimistic  as 
to  the  triumph  of  the  Kingdom  of  Christ  under  the 
dispensation  of  the  Spirit,  maintain,  with  exclusive 
emphasis,  the  Christian  duty  of  witness-bearing. 
They  claim,  in  Dr.  Pierson's  words,  that  our  mission 
to  the  heathen  world  should  be  one  of  diffusion  and 
not  of  concentration;  that  we  should  bear  witness 
concerning  Christ  to  the  people  who  know  Him  not 
and  then  pass  on  to  others,  rather  than  remain  to  ex- 
pand, to  convert,  to  train  and  to  establish  living 
churches.  They  maintain  that  our  duty  is  preemi- 
nently to  bear  witness  to  Christ,  that  we  have  no  re- 


MISSIONART  PROBLEMS  267 

sponsibility  for  the  conversion  of  the  people  and  for 
the  building  up  of  strong  churches. 

This  claim  that  it  is  the  duty  of  the  Church  to 
herald  the  good  news  of  redemption  to  all  men  as 
speedily  as  possible  apart  from  the  expectation  that 
they  will  accept  it  does  not  commend  itself  to  me 
either  upon  Scriptural  grounds  or  upon  grounds  of 
reason. 

The  idea  of  preaching  the  gospel  to  the  heathen 
"for  a  witness,"  in  the  ordinary  acceptance  of  that 
term,  does  not  constitute  a  worthy  Christian  motive. 
Dr.  W.  N.  Clark  well  analyzes  this  thought  in  the 
following  words,  (page  53,  in  "Study  of  Christian 
Missions"), — "At  the  outset,  there  is  one  motive, 
often,  though  not  necessarily,  associated  with  the 
theory  of  heralding,  that  must  be  rejected  as  no 
Christian  motive.  It  is  often  held  that  in  this  rapid 
work  the  gospel  is  not  to  be  preached  mainly  in  order 
that  it  may  be  believed  unto  salvation,  but  rather  *  for 
a  witness,' — which  is  taken  to  mean  'for  a  witness 
against,'  the  hearers  when  they  meet  the  judgment 
of  God.  The  hearing  of  the  gospel  marks  a  turning- 
point,  both  in  experience  and  destiny.  When  once 
men  have  heard  the  gospel,  they  will  be  saved  if 
they  believe,  and  justly  condemned  if  they  do  not. 
Only  a  few  will  be  saved  by  the  missionary  preach- 
ing; the  elect  will  be  gathered  out  of  the  mass,  and 
the  many  will  remain  indifferent.  But  the  blame  of 
their  ruin  will  be  upon  themselves,  not  upon  God  or 
the  Christian  people;  and  it  is  to  insure  this  result 
that  the  gospel  is  preached  to  them  for  a  witness. 
But  this  is  no  Christian  truth.  Such  teaching  can- 
not truly  represent  the  motive  of  God  the  Saviour. 


268         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

We  must  maintain  that  God  acts  in  good  faith  in  the 
offers  of  His  grace,  or  Christianity  becomes  a  delusion. 
We  must  preserve  our  own  good  faith  also  in  con- 
veying the  offer  of  grace,  or  our  hearers  will  rise  in 
the  judgment  to  condemn  us.  No  allowance  should 
be  made  for  any  such  unchristian  motive  in  our  plans 
for  Christian  missions,  and  we  must  hold  no  theory 
of  missions  that  implies  it." 

Moreover  the  view  is  thoroughly  pessimistic,  so  far 
as  this  dispensation  is  concerned,  and  fails  to  realize 
the  power  and  the  glory  of  Christian  truth  and  of  the 
kingdom  of  Christ  as  inspired  by  the  Holy  Spirit.  A 
theory  of  missions  which  is  pessimistic  at  the  core 
can  hardly  be  a  safe  or  an  inspiring  one. 

It  should  be  remembered  also  that  missions  are  not 
an  end  in  themselves.  They  should  aim  at  making 
themselves  unnecessary  by  the  establishing  of  vigor- 
ous churches  which  shall  become  self-extending  and 
indigenous  in  all  the  lands  of  the  earth.  The  hope  of 
missions,  and  the  hope  of  the  world  through  mis- 
sions, lies  not,  ultimately,  in  the  missions,  but  in  the 
churches  which  they  establish.  Therefore  they  should 
be  well  established  and  patiently  developed.  The 
Church  of  God  must  take  up  its  missionary  work 
with  a  full  appreciation  of  its  supreme  greatness  and 
difficulty.  Let  it  not  be  supposed  that  it  is  called 
simply  to  "bear  witness."  This  heralding  of  the 
gospel  of  Christ,  is  only  a  part,  and  indeed  a  small 
part,  of  the  great  duty  of  the  Church  to  the  world. 
It  is  also  specifically,  and  with  greater  urgency,  called 
upon  to  disciple  the  nations — to  bring  them  into  full 
possession  of  saving  truth  and  into  joyful  acceptance 
of,  and  life  in,  Christ. 


MISSIONART  PROBLEMS  269 

Let  us  not  delude  ourselves  with  the  idea  that  this 
work  is  easy,  that  we  can  pass  over  it  lightly  or  that 
we  have  no  responsibility  for  the  conversion  of  the 
world.  As  I  have  preached  for  the  first  time  to  a 
heathen  village  I  have  felt  that  my  obligation  to  its 
inhabitants  for  their  salvation  was  thereby  increased 
rather  than  fulfilled.  There  is  no  doubt  that  Christian 
missionaries  realize  today  as  never  before  the  great- 
ness of  the  task  set  before  God's  people  to  dis- 
ciple the  nations.  The  obstacles  to  it  and  the  con- 
flict which  it  involves  seem  greater  than  ever.  The 
romance  of  missions  has  largely  given  way  to  sober 
work  and  the  rush  of  battle  has  been  succeeded  by  a 
great  siege.  This  is  preeminently  the  condition  in 
India  today.  Let  us  not  forget  this  in  our  mission- 
ary enterprise  lest  we  lose  courage  by  the  way.  But 
let  us  also  remember  that  it  is  God's  work.  He  is 
pledged  to  bring  it  to  its  ultimate  triumph,  and  He 
will  do  it.  He  will  fulfill  His  promise  and  give  to  His 
Son  the  heathen  for  His  inheritance  and  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  earth  for  His  possession. 

This  theory  of  missionary  work  is  the  only  one 
that  has  produced,  and  can  maintain,  all  the  present 
organized  activity  of  the  missionary  Church.  The 
aim  of  the  manifold  activities  and  various  departments 
of  missionary  effort,  as  witnessed  in  India  today,  can 
be  nothing  less  than  the  ultimate  conquest  of  that 
land  for  Christ  through  the  establishment  of  a  living, 
an  ever-growing  and  self-extending  Indian  Church 
there. 

Let  us  now  consider  some  of  the  problems  which 
specially  exist  in  India. 


270 


INDIA'S  PROBLEM 


3.    The  Caste  Problem. 

The  caste  problem  has  been,  and  continues  to  be, 
the  most  troublesome  and  obtrusive  among  all  the 
questions  which  confront  missions  in  that  land.  It  is 
a  more  serious  problem — more  pervasive  and  intense 
— in  Southern  than  in  Northern  India. 

This  is  radically  different  from  social  problems  in 
all  other  lands,  in  that  it  traces  its  source  to,  and  gath- 
ers its  authority  from,  religion.  It  enforces  all  that 
it  sanctions  by  the  most  compact  and  relentless  re- 
ligious system  the  world  has  known.  It  maintains 
that  men  have  been  created  into  a  great  number  of 
castes  or  classes  from  none  of  which  can  they,  by 
any  possibility,  pass  into  another.  In  whatever  social 
stratum  a  man  is  born  there  must  he  live  and  die.  It 
is  impious  for  him  to  attempt  to  evade  or  to  violate 
this  heavenly  classification.  His  interests  and  all  his 
rights  are  confined  to  that  one  caste  of  his  birth.  It 
is  sin  for  him  to  marry  out  of  it  or,  in  any  way,  to 
transgress  his  natal  compact  with  it.  Neither  added 
wealth,  growing  culture,  a  new  ambition,  nor  any- 
thing else  can  enable  him  to  change  his  caste.  All 
the  forces  of  religion  are  directed,  like  a  mighty  engine 
of  tyranny,  to  bind  him  to  it. 

This  sentiment  of  caste,  after  millenniums  of  teach- 
ing, of  rigid  observance  and  custom,  has  become  even 
more  than  second  nature  to  the  Hindu, — it  has  grown 
into  a  sweet  necessity  of  his  life,  from  whose  claims 
and  demands  he  neither  expects  nor  desires  relief.  To 
the  ordinary  Hindu  a  change  of  caste  would  be  as 
unexpected,  yea  as  impossible,  as  his  sudden  change 
mto  the  lower  brute,  or  into  the  higher  angelic,  king- 
dom. 


MISSIONART  PROBLEMS  271 

When  Christianity  was  first  established  in  India  the 
problem  of  the  adoption  or  the  rejection  of  caste  by 
the  Christian  church  had  to  be  faced.  It  was  rejected 
by  the  earliest  Christian  community  in  India;  for  we 
find  no  traces  of  it  in  the  Syrian  church  on  the  coast 
of  Malabar  today.  Even  caste  titles,  that  dearest  rem- 
nant of  that  system  to  all  other  native  Christians  in 
India,  have  entirely  disappeared  from  that  commu- 
nity. It  is  a  great  pity  that  the  history  of  that  victory 
over  caste  has  not  been  preserved  as  a  lesson  and  a 
heritage  to  later  Christians. 

The  Romish  Church,  which  next  invaded  India,  un- 
fortunately despised  the  Syrian  community,  sought 
no  instruction  from  its  history,  made  a  friend  of  the 
caste  system  and  adopted  it  in  all  its  hideousness.  It 
did  not  wait  to  consider  the  terrible  fact,  so  patent  to 
all  at  present,  that  Hinduism  and  caste  are  convertible 
terms — that  one  cannot  cease  to  be  a  Hindu  who 
maintains  the  caste  system  in  its  integrity.  Its  inten- 
tion was,  no  doubt,  good  in  its  way.  It  was  an 
effort  to  make  an  easy  way  out  of  Hinduism  into 
Christianity  and  thus  to  swell  the  tide  of  incoming 
converts.  But,  unfortunately,  the  path  was  made 
too  easy;  the  narrow  gate  was  sufficiently  enlarged 
for  the  Hindu  to  enter  with  his  burden  of  heathen 
prejudices  and  superstitions,  and  it  soon  became  the 
highway  of  insincerity  and  hypocrisy.  Moreover,  the 
Romish  Church  has  found,  to  its  cost,  that  an  easy 
way  from  Hinduism  to  Christianity  is  an  equally  easy 
path  to  return.  A  man  who  carried  much  of  his 
Hinduism  with  him  into  the  Christian  Church  was 
easily  drawn  back  by  the  remaining  old  ties  and  af- 
fections.    The  consequence  is  that,  while  Romanisrn 


272         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

has  made  large  inroads  upon  Hinduism  in  some 
places,  it  has  only  been  for  a  time;  and  the  back- 
sliders have  been  as  numerous  as  the  new  converts; 
so  that  Roman  Catholicism  has  made  little  net  prog- 
ress in  India  for  many  years. 

This  alliance  which  Christianity  made,  four  centu- 
ries ago,  with  caste  was,  thus,  a  fatal  one.  It  gave 
also  a  clue  to  the  earliest  Protestant  missionaries — a 
clue  which  they,  in  a  weak  moment,  decided  to  fol- 
low. For,  the  first  Danish  missionaries  also  made  a 
sad  compromise  with  this  monster  evil.  I  presume 
that  this  may  be  regarded  as  a  continental  failing  of 
that  day,  when  in  Europe  class  differences  were  great 
and  almost  insurmountable.  Human  rights  and  indi- 
vidual liberty  were  not  held  so  sacred,  or  so  scrupu- 
lously defended,  in  Europe  in  those  days  as  they  are 
in  Anglo-Saxon  countries  today.  Otherwise  any 
alliance  by  the  Church  with  the  caste  system  would 
have  been  an  impossibility  in  India.  Even  today 
some  Protestant  missionaries  from  the  European  con- 
tinent are  found  in  India  who  defend  the  adoption  of 
the  caste  system  by  the  Christian  Church.  How  dif- 
ferent would  have  been  the  attitude  of  the  Protestant 
Church  towards  this  heathenish  institution  had  men 
of  the  Anglo-Saxon  type  of  today  rather  than  Conti- 
nentals of  two  centuries  ago  started  its  work  in  South 
India!  In  any  case,  the  attitude  of  compromise  as- 
sumed towards  the  caste  system  in  those  early  days 
has  led  to  interminable  evil  and  to  constant  trouble  in 
the  Christian  Church  in  that  land. 

After  caste  had  first  found  admission  as  a  friend 
and  then  was  discovered  to  be  an  uncompromising 
enemy  to  Christian  life  and  principles,  much  effort 


MISSIONART  PROBLEMS  273 

was  made  to  expel  it.  Nearly  all  Protestant  mis- 
sions now  denounce  it,  root  and  branch,  and  preach 
against  it,  and  in  various  ways  try  to  check  and  to 
cast  it  out.  But  with  no  great  success  thus  far.  The 
false  step  taken  at  the  beginning  has  cost  the  Church 
terribly.  Today  in  South  India  more  than  nine-tenths 
of  all  Protestant  native  Christians,  while  they  seek  an 
alliance  only  among  Christians,  nevertheless  marry 
not  on  lines  of  Christian  affmity  so  much  as  on  Hindu 
caste  lines.  It  is  not  often  that  we  find  a  man  among 
common  Christians  who  has  courage  and  sense 
enough  to  seek  a  match  for  son  or  daughter  outside 
of  the  limits  of  that  caste  to  which  he  and  his  people 
belonged  in  Hinduism.  This  custom  is  found  not 
only  extremely  inconvenient  and  troublesome  to 
them;  worst  of  all,  it  perpetuates,  in  the  Christian 
fold,  the  old  heathen  lines  of  cleavage.  And  thus 
life  in  the  Christian  community  is  still  running  some- 
what in  the  old  channels  of  Hinduism  and  largely 
preserves  those  social  distinctions  of  the  past  which 
should  have  been  buried  with  them  at  baptism  and 
forever  abandoned. 

Under  these  circumstances  what  should  missions 
do.?  What  should  be  their  attitude  towards  caste 
spirit  and  customs  ?  Through  former  misapprehen- 
sion and  neglect  the  evil  is  in  the  Christian  Church 
and  exercises  a  potent  influence.  How  shall  it  be 
overcome  or  expelled  ?  Some  believe  in  the  laisse^ 
faire  method.  They  maintain  that,  if  left  to  itself 
for  a  time,  it  will  die  out,  or  the  general  spirit  of 
Christianity  will  naturally  drive  it  out.  The  spirit  of 
caste  is  not  exorcised  in  that  way.  So  long  as  it  is 
perpetuated  by  marriage  affinity,  the  source  of  the 


274         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

whole  evil,  and  by  habits  of  eating  together  on  caste 
lines,  it  will  not  diminish  very  much  or  cease  to  tor- 
ment the  Church.  A  century  of  such  waiting,  in 
some  missions  that  I  have  known,  finds  the  evil  not 
much  diminished.  It  is  only  in  those  missions  where 
it  is  attacked  and  constantly  denounced  and  its  terri- 
ble evils  exposed,  that  progress  is  evident. 

That  which  can  do  speedy  and  sure  work,  in  the 
destruction  of  this  evil  in  Christian  missions  is  inter- 
caste  marriage.  And  through  this  I  am  glad  to  see 
that  increasing  good  is  wrought.  Missions  should  in 
every  way  encourage  and  put  a  premium  upon  mar- 
riages among  their  members  from  different  castes. 
They  should  teach  frequently  and  emphatically  that 
membership  in  different  castes  does  not  constitute  a 
prohibited  marriage  relationship;  but  rather  does  it 
furnish  the  best  ground  for  marriage.  In  this  way, 
and  in  this  way  only,  will  this  wretched  caste  feeling 
speedily  die  a  natural  death  and  Christians  come  to 
marry,  eat,  sympathize,  love  and  live  on  Christian, 
rather  than  on  Hindu,  lines.  A  mission  which  does 
not  improve  every  opportunity  to  show  its  hatred  of 
the  caste  system  and  to  antagonize  it  positively  and 
persistently  can  find  no  peace;  nor  will  it  find  any 
permanent  prosperity.  Missions  are  feeling  this  in- 
creasingly and  are  acting  accordingly. 

4.    Self-Support  of  Missions. 

Every  mission  seeks,  as  its  ever-present  ambition, 
to  attain  unto  independence  from  all  outside  financial 
aid  and  a  thorough  self-support  of  its  own  institu- 
tions. We  await  the  day,  and  believe  in  its  no  dis- 
tant   coming,    when    a    large    number    of    mission 


MISSIONART  PROBLEMS  275 

churches  will  entirely  support  their  own  institutions. 
Indeed  there  are  now  many  churches,  on  mission 
ground,  that  have  grown  into  self-dependence  and 
that  maintain,  at  their  own  expense,  all  those  normal 
forms  of  work  that  are  connected  with  Christian 
activity. 

The  question  is  frequently  asked, — how  far  shall 
missions  place  before  them,  as  the  supreme  and  im- 
mediate aim,  the  self-support  of  their  separate 
churches.?  Among  missions  and  missionaries  there 
are  two  tendencies  in  this  matter.  One  class,  repre- 
sented by  the  Church  Missionary  Society  Mission  in 
Tinnevelly,  place  all  moneys  received  from  their  mis- 
sion churches  into  one  fund,  and  from  this  fund  they 
pay  the  salaries  of  the  pastors  and  catechists,  so  far 
as  possible.  Bishop  Sargent  told  me  that  he  did  not 
think  any  church  should  be  allowed  to  directly  sup- 
port its  own  pastor  lest  they  consider  that  thereby 
they  had  a  right  to  exercise  authority  over  him  ! 
That  mission,  therefore,  and  for  other  reasons  also, 
has  relegated  the  direct  question  of  the  self-support 
of  each  church  into  the  limbo  of  the  undesirable. 
In  the  American  Madura  Mission,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  responsibility  is  urged  upon  every  individual 
church  to  support  its  own  spiritual  instructor;  and  all 
rules  and  methods  are  directed  towards  emphasizing 
and  enforcing  this.  Self-support  thus  becomes,  in 
that  mission,  its  ever-present  cry  and  the  growing 
ambition  of  its  every  church  and  congregation.  And 
the  progress  of  the  Church  and  of  the  mission  is 
largely  measured  by  this  standard. 

The  self-support  of  a  mission,  as  such,  is  a  ques- 
tion which  is  not  looked  upon  with  the  same  urgency, 


276         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

or  with  the  same  idea  of  importance  by  all  missions, 
or  by  all  missionaries.  One  party,  for  instance, 
would  make  self-support  the  supreme  end;  every- 
thing else  must  be  subordinated  to  it.  Nothing 
should  be  undertaken,  they  say,  which  is  not  within 
the  means  and  the  desire  of  the  people  to  support. 
For  instance,  they  maintain  that  the  salary  of  all  mis- 
sion agents  and  the  support  of  mission  institutions 
must  be  pecuniarily  within  the  means  of  the  Orient 
and  within  the  limits  of  its  ambitions.  I  ought  to 
say  that  no  mission,  to  my  knowledge,  carries  out 
this  principle  in  its  integrity,  although  there  are  some 
missionaries  who  urge  it  and  proclaim  it  at  all  times. 

The  other  party  believes  that  the  principal  duty  and 
highest  privilege  of  a  mission,  as  such,  is  not  imme- 
diately to  seek  self-support  or  to  pare  everything 
down  to  the  capacity  of  the  people  to  give;  but  to 
push  forward  the  work  energetically;  with  economy 
indeed,  but  regardless  of  expense,  knowing  that  vig- 
our and  enterprise  and  a  strenuous  Western  energy 
today  will  be  both  amply  rewarded  in  results  and 
will  also  set  a  pace  for  the  native  Church  in  coming 
years.  They  therefore  seek  the  best  trained  agents 
regardless  of  the  immediate  ability  of  the  people  to 
pay  their  salary.  And  they  establish  schools  and 
hospitals  and  various  other  institutions  which  are  al- 
together beyond  the  present  ability  of  the  Indian 
Church  either  to  found  or  to  maintain. 

We  must  not  forget  that  self-support,  entire  self- 
support,  is  possible  in  any  mission  from  the  very  first 
day  of  its  organization,  if  the  mission  only  makes  this 
paramount  and  has  the  boldness  of  its  convictions  to 
shape  its  work  according  to  the  offerings  of  the  peo- 


MISSIONART  PROBLEMS  277 

pie.     And  there  are  some  advantages  to  that  method. 
Many  of  the  best  missionaries  have  often  felt  that 
they  would  like  to  try  that  system  in  India.     Bishop 
Thoburn,  while  maintaining  that  it  would  be  impos- 
sible to  radically  change  the  method  of  an  old  mis- 
sion, expressed  the  conviction  that  it  might  be  well 
to  establish  in  India  a  new  mission  on  the  basis  of 
complete  self-support   from   the  beginning.     This, 
doubtless,  was  the  Pauline  method;  and  it  operated 
well  under  the  then  existing  circumstances  in  those 
lands.     And  had  our  missions  in  the  East  been  estab- 
lished and  conducted  by  the  Orient  instead  of  the 
Occident  they  would  have  had  adequate  patience  to 
pursue  the  method  of  self-support  ab  initio.     But  as 
we  are  of  the  West,  Western,  our  missions  must  par- 
take of  the  characteristics  of  our  nature;  and  be  im- 
bued with  that  energy,  push,  impatience  for  results 
which  distinguish  us  in  everything.     I  am  sure  that 
neither  the  churches  at  home  nor  their  missionaries 
abroad  are  prepared  to  limit  their  efforts  by  the  pov- 
erty, slowness  and  apathy  of  the  East,  and  thus  per- 
haps   delay    for    years,   or  generations,  the  results 
which,  through   the   expenditure   of    more   money, 
they  possibly  might  reap  today.     The  method  which 
missions  have  adopted  is  the  western  method,  char- 
acteristic of  our  haste  and  strenuous  spirit,  and  par- 
taking of  the  evils  incident  to  that  spirit  and  method. 
It  is,  on  the  whole,  perhaps  the  best  method  that  can 
be  used  and  fully  realized  by  us. 

5.     Mission  Educational  Work. 
In  connection,  with  the  increasingly  important  de- 
partment of  mission  educational  work  in  India  not  a 


278         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

few  perplexing  questions  arise.  We  have  seen  that 
this  department  has  conquered  for  itself  general  rec- 
ognition as  a  legitimate  part  of  missionary  effort. 

But  there  is  a  serious  conflict  ahead,  in  the  no  dis- 
tant future.  And  this  is  in  part  owing  to  the  attitude 
of  the  Government  Educational  Department  and  of 
the  local  governing  bodies  towards  mission  institu- 
tions. There  is  no  concealing  the  fact  that  most  of 
the  English  officials  of  the  Educational  Department 
in  India  deem  mission  schools  the  most  serious  rivals 
to,  and  regard  missionary  educators  as  quasi  enemies 
of,  their  departmental  schools.  These  men  have 
recently  assumed,  and  are  increasingly  assuming,  an 
attitude  of  jealousy,  if  not  of  hostility,  to  mission  in- 
stitutions, chiefly  because  of  their  strength  and  excel- 
lence as  rival  schools,  and  partly  because  of  the  Bible 
training  which  is  imparted  to  all  the  students  of  these 
schools — a  training  with  which  those  officials  have  no 
sympathy  and  which  they  are  wont  to  regard  as  an 
educational  impertinence. 

Missions  must  expect  that  the  jealousy  and  the  an- 
tagonism of  that  department  will  increase.  It  is  true 
that  the  great  State  Educational  Despatch  of  1854  and 
later  enunciated  government  policy,  declare  that  it 
is  not  the  purpose  of  the  government  to  establish 
schools  of  its  own,  except  where  private  bodies  fail 
to  do  so;  and  that  it  is  its  purpose  to  encourage,  so 
far  as  possible,  private  institutions.  But  the  general 
declaration  of  the  Imperial  and  Provincial  govern- 
ments is  one  thing  and  the  purpose  and  ambition  of 
its  Educational  Department  a  very  different  thing. 
Departmentalists  find  it  to  their  interest  to  strengthen 
and  increase  government  schools  at  all  points;  and 


MISSIONART  PROBLEMS  279 

as  the  funds  appropriated  for  educational  purposes 
are  inadequate  for  all  schools  they  seek  the  lion's 
share  for  their  own,  and  grudgingly  give  an  ever  de- 
creasing quota  to  mission  institutions.  It  will  be  an 
ill  day  for  missions  when  the  Educational  Department 
and  its  schools  will  become  sufficiently  strong  to  af- 
fect the  policy  of  the  general  government  as  against 
private,  and  in  favour  of  government  schools. 

Another  fact,  of  equal  significance,  is  the  attitude 
of  District  Boards  and  Municipal  Commissioners  to- 
wards the  schools  of  Mission  Bodies.  Nearly  all  the 
members  of  Local  Boards  are  native  gentlemen. 
They  see  the  large  influence  of  mission  schools, 
scattered  as  they  are  through  their  districts  and 
towns,  and  they  regard  them  as  Christian  propa- 
ganda and  as  evangelizing  agencies;  and  it  is  but 
natural  that,  under  the  impulse  of  their  new  national- 
ism and  of  their  interest  in  a  Neo-Hinduism,  they 
should  be  jealous  of  mission  schools  which  are  the 
rivals  of  their  own  indigenous  and  growing  institu- 
tions. And  as  they  have  the  power  of  the  purse  and 
make  and  withhold  grants  to  different  schools  at  their 
pleasure;  and  as  all  the  subordinate  officers  of  the 
Educational  Department  are  natives  and  are  not  in 
full  sympathy  with  mission  schools;  it  can  be  easily 
seen  how  our  schools  are  doomed  to  suffer  through 
an  ever  decreasing  government  aid  towards  their 
support. 

Thus,  there  are  two  problems,  in  this  connection, 
which  will  confront  us.  One  is  the  question  whether 
it  be  worth  while  for  missions  to  conduct  their  schools 
entirely  at  their  own  expense,  i.  e. — without  any  gov- 
ernment aid.     This  problem  must  be  faced  ere  long; 


28o         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

and  it  means  either  the  curtailing  of  this  department 
of  work  or  the  expending  of  a  very  much  increased 
sum  of  money  upon  it. 

The  question  may  also  be  urged  upon  us,  more 
speedily  than  we  anticipate  (indeed  it  has  been  raised 
already),  whether  any  schools  aided  by  government 
shall  be  allowed  to  be  used  as  religious  propaganda. 
In  other  words,  whether  mission  schools  shall  enjoy 
the  privilege  of  teaching  the  Bible  to  all  non-Chris- 
tian students  in  attendance,  even  against  their  will. 
This  question  is  exercising  the  mind  of  not  a  few 
natives  and  others  today;  and  it  is  claimed  that  the 
present  practice  is  contrary  to  the  Royal  Proclamation 
of  Religious  Neutrality  in  the  land.  There  is  some 
reason  for  this  contention;  and,  under  increasing 
religious  rivalry  and  jealousy,  it  may,  at  an  early  date, 
lead  to  a  crisis  in  mission  schools.  And  the  problem 
may  confront  us  as  to  whether  we  are  prepared  to 
continue  all  our  schools  for  non-Christians  under 
conditions  which  make  it  impossible  for  us  to  give 
Bible,  or  even  any  religious,  training  in  them. 

Another  serious  problem,  in  this  same  connection, 
is  whether  missions  should  conduct,  to  any  extent, 
educational  work  apart  from  other  indirect  aims  and 
purposes.  In  other  words,  how  far,  if  at  all,  should 
a  mission  give  itself  to  the  work  of  education,  per  se, 
and  not  as  a  Christian  training  or  as  an  evangelizing 
agency. 

Many  at  present  maintain  that  educsition^general 

education — is  in  itself  a  good  and  a  blessing  which  it 

is  the  business  of  a  mission  to  impart,  independent 

of  any  direct  religious  instruction  or  spiritual  training 

vhich  might  be  given  through  it.     They  maintain 


MISSIONART  PROBLEMS  281 

that  mission  funds  should  thus  be  used  for  the  intel- 
lectual advancement  of  the  people  apart  from  their 
Christianization.  The  majority,  however,  would 
claim  that  a  mission's  educational  work  should  be 
conducted  only  so  far  as  it  can  be  the  medium  of 
communicating  religious  truth,  or  only  in  so  far  as  it 
can  be  made  a  direct  auxiliary  to  the  Christianizing 
of  the  land.  This  class  would  claim  that  no  work 
should  be  undertaken  by  a  mission  which  does  not 
contribute  to  the  Christianizing  of  the  people  as  a 
result  distinct  from  their  progress  in  civilization. 
And  it  is  here  that  these  two  classes  of  missionaries 
take  issue  with  each  other.  It  is  an  important  differ- 
ence in  the  conception  of  the  Church's  work  in 
heathen  lands.  As  I  shall  consider  this  later  1  only 
call  attention  to  it  here. 

Another  matter,  of  no  little  consequence  in  this 
connection,  is  that  of  the  amount  of  educational 
privilege  which  a  mission  should  furnish  to  its 
people.  President  Stanley  Hall  has  recently  main- 
tained that,  even  in  this  country,  many  are  educated 
who  should  not  be.  They  should,  he  says,  be  left  to 
the  hoe  and  shovel.  He  claims  that  not  a  few  are, 
through  education,  spoiled  for  usefulness  in  the  low- 
est sphere  of  manual  labour  for  which  they  were  by 
nature  designed;  while  they  are  also  disqualified  for 
the  highest  sphere  of  service  and  life.  If  this  be  true 
in  America  it  is  doubly  true  in  India.  Many  young 
men  and  women  in  that  land  have  had  lavished  upon 
them  the  blessings  of  education  to  an  extent  that 
was  unprofitable  both  to  them  and  to  the  cause. 
They  have  received  an  education  and  training  which 
not  only  carried  them  away  far  outside  the  social 


282         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

realm  for  which  they  were  intended  by  nature;  il 
also  left  them  incapable  of  doing  the  higher  thing  for 
which  they  were  intended  by  the  mission. 

There  is  adequate  excuse  for  this  in  the  early  stages 
of  mission  progress.  The  greatest  need  of  a  mission 
is  a  good,  strong,  native  agency.  And  in  its  desire  to 
furnish  this  agency  the  mission,  as  well  as  the  indi- 
vidual missionary,  eagerly  seizes  upon  every  boy  and 
girl  who  shows  any  signs  of  promise  as  an  applicant 
to  be  trained  for  missionary  service.  This  same  am- 
bition to  develop,  in  intellectual  power  and  in  civiliz- 
ing progress,  the  young  of  an  infant  Christian  com- 
munity so  that  they  may  adorn  our  faith  and  give  an 
honourable  status  to  the  community  leads  many  a 
mission  to  expend  upon  the  education  of  its  boys  and 
girls  more  than  it  will  in  its  later  and  more  mature 
stage  of  growth. 

6.    The  Industrial  and  Economic  Problem. 

During  the  last  two  decades  there  has  been  a 
marked  and  strong  tendency  in  Indian  missions,  as  in 
the  home  churches  which  support  them,  to  still 
broaden  the  scope  of  missionary  effort  by  adding  to 
its  directly  spiritual,  and  to  its  educational  and  medical, 
work,  schemes  for  the  industrial,  economic  and  social 
advancement  of  the  people.  This  broadening  of  the 
conception  of  the  work  of  the  Church  in  missionary 
lands  is  a  most  interesting  study.  Less  than  a  cen- 
tury ago  nothing  that  was  not  directly  and  intensely 
spiritual  in  its  character  was  regarded  as,  in  any 
sense,  a  part  of  missionary  effort.  To  preach  the 
Gospel  to  the  heathen,  to  establish  and  to  train  Chris- 
tian churches  and  to  develop  and  direct  a  suitable 


MISSIONART  PROBLEMS  283 

native  agency — this  embraced  the  whole  work  of  the 
mission.  Anything  beyond  this  was  considered  ille- 
gitimate. Subsequently  the  medical  department  was 
introduced, — chiefly  because  of  the  example  of  Christ 
Himself  as  the  Great  Healer.  Soon  the  educational 
work  was  begun,  as  a  necessity  in  its  elementary 
stages,  and  it  gradually  grew  until  it  has  reached  its 
present  manifold  character  and  large  proportions. 
Then  a  few  missions  began  to  touch  the  industrial 
problem  and  to  establish  schools  for  the  training  of 
boys  and  girls  in  manual  labour.  Today  that  work  is 
finding  much  increased  emphasis,  and  missions  are 
beginning  to  take  up,  in  all  seriousness.  Peasant  Set- 
tlements as  a  means  of  lifting  the  people  economically, 
and  of  training  them  to  habits  of  industry,  and  to  found 
villages  as  separate  Christian  communities.  Schools 
for  the  blind  and  for  deaf  mutes  also  have  been  estab- 
lished. In  fact  all  forms  of  philanthropic  effort  have 
now  practically  been  adopted  by  the  missions  of  India 
as  legitimate  forms  of  their  activities.  Indeed,  it  is 
extensively  proclaimed,  what  has  long  been  stren- 
uously denied,  that  missions  are  not  founded  simply 
to  Christianize  but  to  civilize  and  to  elevate  in  all 
matters  pertaining  to  soul,  mind  and  body,  the  people 
among  whom  they  are  established. 

This  is  a  broad  question  and  an  issue  of  funda- 
mental importance.  It  belongs  to  the  very  concept 
of  missions  and  is  largely  a  question  of  aim  and  pur- 
pose. The  trend  of  the  times  is  doubtless  in 
favour  of  the  broader,  humanitarian,  philanthropic, 
civilizing  purpose  of  missions  as  against  the  deeper 
and  more  exclusive,  spiritual  and  Christianizing 
end. 


284         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

It  seems  to  me  to  be  a  question  whether  missions 
are  ready  for  this  change. 

It  is  also  a  very  serious  problem  whether,  in  the 
mission  field,  this  modern  tendency  to  extend  and 
broaden  out  is  of  the  spirit  of  Christ  and  is  a  passion 
to  do  good  unto  men  in  every  department  and  sphere 
of  their  life;  or  whether  it  is  a  degeneracy— a  drifting 
away  from  the  lofty  and  exclusive  purpose  of  soul- 
winning  and  soul-saving  down  towards  the  lower 
plane  of  earthly  blessing  and  general  philanthropy. 
There  is  certainly  a  sense  in  which  this  widening  of 
missionary  endeavour  is  a  part  of  the  broadening  of 
the  Christian  life  of  today  and  is  in  harmony  with  the 
multiplication  of  the  agencies  of  the  Church  at  home 
for  the  general  betterment  of  the  people  and  for  pre- 
paring them  for  the  highest  blessings  of  our  faith; 
and  as  such  it  is  both  commendable  and  encouraging. 

On  the  other  hand  I  know  of  no  temptation  that  is 
pregnant  with  greater  evil  to  missions,  at  the  present 
time,  than  that  connected  with  this  multiplication  of 
what  may  be  called  the  lower  activities  of  mis- 
sions. The  spiritual  work  of  a  mission  must  ever 
remain  its  principal  work  if  it  is  to  succeed  in  the 
highest  sense.  It  is  also  the  most  difficult  work.  It 
bears  with  it,  often,  serious  discouragement  to  the 
worker.  And  in  times  of  discouragement  it  is  a  very 
easy  thing  for  a  missionary,  and  for  a  mission,  to 
relax  effort  at  this  point  and,  as  a  compensation,  to 
seek  larger  results  on  the  lower  planes  of  social  and 
industrial  activities  and  humanitarian  and  philan- 
thropic effort.  These  lower  forms  of  activity  are 
exceedingly  absorbing  and  distracting;  and  when  a 
fnission  enters  extensively  into  them  it  usually  means. 


MISSIONART  PROBLEMS  285 

and,  I  would  almost  say,  necessarily  means,  a  with- 
drawal of  time  and  energy  and  of  interest  from  its 
highest  spiritual  work.  A  man  or  a  mission  has 
only  a  certain  amount  of  strength  and  money  to  de- 
vote to  his  work;  and  if  this  is  increasingly  and  ex- 
tensively expended  upon  the  lower  forms  of  philan- 
thropic effort,  the  higher,  spiritual  purposes  and  en- 
deavors must  suffer. 

The  Basle  Lutheran  Mission  of  South  India  has 
done  more  industrial  work  than  any  other  mission  of 
that  land.  But  the  industrial  department  grew  so 
rapidly  and  became  so  absorbing  that  it  was  found 
necessary  to  make  a  separate  "mission"  of  it.  It 
has  flourished  as  a  commercial  enterprise  and  is  self- 
supporting.  But  the  leader  of  that  mission  informs 
me  that  its  blessings  are  questionable,  in  that  it  tends 
to  demoralize  the  people  and  renders  little  or  no  aid  to 
their  spiritual  work. 

While  I  believe  that  a  certain  amount  of  endeavour, 
by  a  mission,  for  the  temporal  good  and  social 
betterment  of  its  people  is  legitimate  and  desirable, 
extreme  care  should  be  taken,  in  the  present  early 
stage  of  progress,  lest  this  form  of  activity  become 
prominent  or  dominant;  and,  above  all,  lest  it,  in 
any  way,  interfere  with  the  conviction  concerning 
the  supreme  importance  and  prime  urgency  of  the 
spiritual  training  and  growth  of  the  people.  This 
class  of  work  can  very  easily,  by  changing  the 
people's  ideas  of  a  mission's  aim  and  purpose,  de- 
moralize them.  It  can  also,  with  equally  fatal 
facility,  transfer  the  interest  of  the  missionary  from 
the  higher  to  the  lower  realm  of  work,  and  thus  be- 
come a  curse,  rather  than  a  blessing,  to  him.     If  the 


286         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

work  of  missions  is  to  be  broadened  the  greatest  care 
must  be  exercised  lest  this  breadth  be  secured  at  the 
expense  of  depth  of  spiritual  purpose  and  power, 
and  height  of  spiritual  life  and  experience.  I  must 
confess  that  this  new  movement,  in  the  present  stage 
of  the  progress  of  missions,  brings  to  me  as  much 
fear  as  it  does  hope.  For,  while  I  see  reason  for  tak- 
ing up  such  work,  I  know  also  the  demoralizing  in- 
fluences that  so  naturally  and  easily  follow  it.  A 
mission  that  allows  itself  to  be  secularized,  by  giving 
too  much  emphasis  to  these  social  and  civilizing 
agencies,  becomes  inevitably  paralyzed  as  a  spiritual 
force  in  its  field;  and  woe  be  to  any  mission  that 
gains  anything  at  the  expense  of  its  spiritual  paralysis. 

7.     Mission  Administration. 

The  question  of  administration  is  an  exceedingly 
important  one  to  every  mission.  How  wisely  are 
our  missions  organized  for  large  economy  of  money 
and  effort  and  for  highest  efficiency  ?  Could  not 
missions  unite,  for  mutual  counsel  and  wisdom,  as 
many  officers  of  our  societies  at  home  now  do;  could 
not  missions  learn  more  from  one  another  in  this 
most  important  respect  ?  The  annual  expenditure  of 
more  than  one  million  dollars  on  mission  work  in 
South  India  alone  is  in  itself  a  large  trust  which  re- 
quires great  care  and  breadth  of  wisdom.  Hitherto 
not  much  has  been  done  by  the  many  missions  of 
India  to  learn  from  one  another  the  wisest  methods 
of  administration.  There  is  remarkable  diversity  and 
even  contrast  among  those  missions  in  the  methods 
of  conducting  their  work  and  in  the  administration 
of  their  affairs.     This  is,  in  no  small  part,  due  to  the 


MISSIONART  PROBLEMS  287 

different  peculiarities  of  the  several  nationalities 
which  conduct  the  missions;  it  is  also  in  part  due  to 
their  denominational  affinities.  But,  by  growing 
familiarity  with  one  another's  methods  and  by  more 
appreciative  study  of  the  same,  much  could  be 
learned  by  these  missions  which  would  tend  to 
increasing  uniformity  of  administrative  method, 
efficiency  of  work  and  abundance  of  results. 

Another  question  of  perennial  interest,  in  this  con- 
nection, is  that  of  the  extent  to  which  native  Chris- 
tians should  be  allowed  to  participate  in  the  adminis- 
tration of  the  affairs  of  a  mission.  The  training  of 
some  of  the  highest  members  of  the  native  Christian 
community  in  the  responsibility  of  missionary  ad- 
ministration is  a  serious  duty  of  every  mission.  The 
day  must  come  when  the  whole  administration  of  the 
Christian  work  carried  on  by  missions  will  be  in  the 
hands  of  the  native  community  itself — when  mis- 
sions, as  such,  shall  have  accomplished  their  work 
and  shall  be  disbanded.  What  is  being  done  by  our 
missions  today  to  make  that  consummation  possible 
and  desirable  at  the  earliest  moment  .?*  Most  missions 
maintain  that  Indians  should  have  nothing  to  do  with 
the  administration  of  foreign  funds.  Is  this  a  wise 
position  to  take  }  Is  it  consonant  with  the  best  train- 
ing of  the  highest  native  Christians  for  future  con- 
trol ?  In  other  words,  what  administrative  prepara- 
tion is  being  made  by  the  mission  for  the  incoming 
of  an  indigenous,  self-governing  Church  ? 

It  is  true  that  Indian  Christians  will  not,  for  a  long 
time,  be  able  to  render  much  assistance  to  the  mis- 
sions in  this  line.  But  if  they  are  to  be,  at  any 
future  time,  capable  of  undertaking  the  responsibility 


288         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

of  the  work  they  must  be  trained  for  it;  and  this 
training  must  be  conducted  with  patience  by  the 
mission.  If  they  are  now  wanting  in  independence 
and  poise  of  character  and  breadth  of  horizon,  these 
can  come  to  them  only  through  an  extended  training. 
And  it  is  the  duty  of  missions  to  give  this  training  to 
them. 

There  is  danger  that  missions  cling  too  tenaciously 
to  their  right  to  rule.  Power  is  sweet  to  the  mis- 
sionary no  less  than  to  other  men. 

I  am  glad  to  say  that  progress  is  made  by  missions 
in  this  matter.  Slowly  but  surely  the  native  Chris- 
tian is  entering  into  their  counsels  and  is  finding  in- 
creasing opportunity  and  responsibility  there. 

8.     Problems  Concerning  New  Converts. 

There  are  many  interesting  and  important  ques- 
tions connected  with  the  reception  of  new  converts 
into  the  Christian  fold  in  India.  Some  of  these  have 
a  growing  interest  to  the  Cause  and  have  found  an 
important  place  in  missionary  discussion.  I  shall 
refer  to  only  a  few  of  them. 

{a)  Shall  polygamous  converts  he  received  into  the 
Christian  Church  ? 

In  Hinduism  polygamy  (more  especially,  bigamy) 
is  not  uncommon.  It  is  permitted  and  indeed  fos- 
tered by  that  faith  and  is  legalized  by  the  laws  of  the 
country.  As  our  faith  makes  increasing  inroads  upon 
that  religion,  numbers,  and  yet  never  a  large  num- 
ber, of  those  who  have  two  or  more  wives  will  ac- 
cept our  teaching  and,  with  all  earnestness,  seek  ad- 
mission into  our  Christian  communion.     What  shall 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEMS  289 

we  say  to  such  ?  How  shall  we  meet  them  and  their 
desire  ?  This  question  has,  in  a  few  cases,  been  sent 
to  the  societies  at  home,  the  missions  seeking  from 
them  advice  and  guidance.  From  America  the  in- 
struction has  been  received  against  receiving  any 
such  into  the  Christian  Church.  This  is  natural 
enough  from  a  country  which  is  confronted  by  the 
Mormon  question.  But  the  problem  has  its  Eastern 
bearing  which  is  not  understood  in  the  West  and 
which  has  led  missionary  bodies  in  India  almost  in- 
variably to  decide  in  favour  of  receiving  such  into  the 
Christian  fold. 

In  the  consideration  of  the  problem  many  things 
must  be  kept  in  mind.  None  more  important  than 
the  claims  to  a  cordial  welcome  from  the  Church  of 
any  man  who,  in  true  faith  and  Christian  earnestness, 
seeks  admittance.  If  it  be  demanded  of  the  man  that 
he  put  away  all  but  one  of  those  wives  taken  in 
heathenism;  then  we  ask  whether  it  is  Christian,  or 
even  just,  to  cast  away  one  to  whom  he  was  solemnly 
and  religiously  pledged  according  to  the  laws  of  the 
land  and  with  whom  he  has  been  linked  in  love  and 
harmony  for  years  and  from  whom  he  has  begotten 
children  ?  And  if  he  is  to  put  away  one  or  more  of 
his  wives,  which  one  shall  it  be  ?  Shall  it  be  the  first 
wife?  Certainly  that  would  not  be  Christian.  Or 
shall  it  be  the  second  wife  who  is  the  mother  of  his 
children  and  whom  he  probably  married  at  the  re- 
quest of  the  first,  who  was  childless,  in  order  that  he 
might  raise  seed  unto  himself  ?  It  is  not  easy,  on 
Christian  grounds,  to  decide  such  a  problem  as  this; 
nor  is  it  very  Christian  to  put  a  ban  upon  any  woman 
who,  in  accordance  with  her  religion  and  her  coun- 


290         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

try's  laws,  has  formed  this  sacred  alliance  with  a  man 
and  has  lived  with  him  for  years.  Nor  can  it  be  right 
to  brand  with  illegitimacy  the  children  born  of  such  a 
wedlock. 

I  would  not  allow  such  persons,  received  into  the 
Christian  Church,  to  become  officers  of  the  Church. 
But  I  cannot  see  why  there  may  not  be  an  humble 
place  in  the  Church  of  God  for  such  and  their  fam- 
ilies. 

{h)  Should  the  baptism  of  a  person,  in  any  case, 
immediately  follow  his  confession  of  Christ  ? 

This  question  does  not  pertain  to  those  who  live  in 
Christian  communities  and  within  the  circle  of  Chris- 
tian light  and  influence.  It  refers  mainly,  if  not  ex- 
clusively, to  those  who  accept  Christ  under  the  influ- 
ence of  Christian  teaching  at  heathen  festivals  and 
who  may  live  far  away  from  Christian  communities. 
In  North  India,  some  of  those  who  have  accepted 
Christ  under  these  circumstances  have  received  im- 
mediate baptism  and  have  been  sent  back  to  their 
villages  professing  Christians.  At  first  sight  this 
seems  unwarranted  and  unwise.  Men  who  have  re- 
ceived and  made  an  open  confession  of  Christ  under 
these  circumstances  are  not  likely  to  have  received  a 
sufficient  knowledge  of  our  faith,  or  attained  an  ade- 
quate familiarity  with  its  truths  ;  nor  have  they  been 
grounded  in  its  principles  and  life,  sufficiently  to  war- 
rant us  in  the  hope  and  assurance  that  they  will  con- 
tinue this  life  in  their  heathen  homes  and  do  honour  to 
our  cause  and  the  name  of  Christ  which  they  have 
professed.  And  yet  who  are  we  to  decide  adversely 
upon  the  application  of  such  a  man  who  may  find,  or 


MISSIONART  PROBLEMS  291 

think  he  finds,  in  that  public  occasion  the  only  oppor- 
tunity of  making  an  open  confession  of  Christ  ?  And 
what  right  have  we  to  conclude  that  he  will  not  stand 
firm  to  his  pledge  and  promise  if  we  are  convinced 
that  it  is  made  in  all  sincerity  and  earnestness,  and  if 
we  are  convinced  that  the  man  has  really  accepted 
Christ  as  his  Saviour?  Or,  more  properly,  what 
ground  have  we  to  believe  that  the  Holy  Spirit  cannot 
carry  on  to  perfection  the  work  thus  begun  by  Him 
in  the  heart  of  such  a  man  ?  And  was  not  this  method 
of  immediate  baptism  that  of  the  Apostolic  Church, 
even  though  many  thus  baptized  subsequently  denied 
their  new  faith  ? 

There  are,  doubtless,  cases  of  this  kind  where  bap- 
tism cannot  be  refused  by  the  minister  of  God — 
where  it  is  even  imperative  and  may  prove  a  blessing 
to  the  heathen  audience  as  well  as  to  the  new  con- 
vert. And  yet,  the  ordinary  method  of  delay  and 
careful  scrutiny  and  training  should  still  be  adhered 
to  as  a  normal  method  of  the  Church  in  heathen 
lands.  It  is  the  safest  way  to  lead  to  a  healthy  and  a 
strong  Church. 

(c)  Another  question  frequently  asked  is  that  con- 
cerning secret  baptism. 

Shall  a  missionary,  at  any  time  and  under  any  cir- 
cumstances, secretly  baptize  such  as  are  anxious  to 
make  confession  of  Christ,  but  are  debarred  by  family 
opposition,  or  by  similar  causes,  from  public  bap- 
tism ?  This  problem  frequently  arises  in  connection 
with  work  for  heathen  women.  Under  the  influence 
of  the  work  of  a  Bible  woman,  or  a  lady  missionary, 


292 


INDIA'S  PROBLEM 


a  woman  may  abjure  her  faith,  accept  Christ  as  her 
Saviour  and  yearn  for  baptism.  But  to  be  baptized 
publicly  and  to  confess  Christ  before  her  people 
openly  would  inevitably  result  in  her  being  driven 
from  home,  separated  from  her  children  and  people, 
and  robbed  of  all  opportunity  to  influence  them  in 
behalf  of  her  newly  found  faith.  Moreover,  by  this 
public  confession  she  is  deprived  of  all  family  support 
and  becomes  a  helpless  dependent  upon  the  mission 
for  her  daily  bread.  The  question  rises  whether  such 
a  woman  should  be  quietly  baptized  and  thus  left  to 
pursue  her  way  in  her  own  home  and  with  her  family 
as  a  pledged,  but  secret,  follower  of  the  Lord.  There 
is  much  to  be  said  in  favour  of,  as  there  is  against, 
such  a  baptism.  Many  contend  that  such  an  accept- 
ance of  Christ  would  be  unworthy  and  would  be 
robbed  of  its  saving  power.  But  such  are  not  con- 
versant with  Hindu  life  and  some  of  its  terrible  con- 
ditions. Some  would  maintain,  perhaps  with  more 
wisdom,  that  it  would  be  better  not  to  baptize  such, 
but  to  encourage  them  to  believe  that  they  are  ac- 
cepted of  Christ  and  to  treat  them  in  every  way  as 
Christ's  own  disciples. 

Another  problem  in  this  connection  is  as  to  the 
right  or  wisdom  of  an  unordained  lady  missionary  to 
administer  this  initiatory  rite  to  such  women  con- 
verts. This  question,  of  course,  will  be  largely  de- 
cided in  accordance  with  the  ecclesiastical  connection 
of  those  who  consider  it.  There  is  a  growing  num- 
ber of  persons  who  believe  that  it  would  be  well  that 
ladies  be  authorized  to  administer  this  rite  under  such 
circumstances. 

9.     Another  problem  is  connected  with  the  revival 


MISSIONARY  PROBLEMS  293 

of  thought  among  the  people  of  India  whom  we  seek 
to  bring  to  Christ. 

This  revival  is  really  the  result  of  western  influence 
— largely  the  product  of  Christian  teaching  and  activ- 
ity in  that  land.  In  its  last  analysis  it  is  therefore 
not  to  be  deplored,  but  rather  to  be  welcomed.  At 
the  same  time  this  new  awakening  seems  to  be,  for 
the  present,  connected  with  a  reactionary  and  a  mili- 
tant spirit.  It  speaks  in  the  interest  of  a  new  nation- 
alism and  a  false  patriotism  which  extols  everything 
Eastern  simply  because  it  is  Oriental.  Its  aggressive- 
ness is  manifest  even  in  America.  We  are  becoming 
familiar,  in  this  country,  with  the  yellow-robed  Hindu 
monk  who  has  probably  been  trained  in  a  Christian 
mission  college  and  who  talks  Hinduism  with  a 
strong  Christian  accent.  Though  he  has  violated  a 
peremptory  command  of  his  ancestral  faith  in  crossing 
the  seas;  and  though,  of  necessity,  he  daily  tramples 
in  this  land  the  whole  decalogue  of  Hindu  life  and 
ritual,  he  feels  competent  to  champion  Hindu  philos- 
ophy here!  And  he  seems  to  find  a  coterie  of  ad- 
mirers and  quasi  disciples  in  this  land  of  light  and 
privilege!  Recently  an  old  classmate  of  mine  in- 
formed me,  with  all  solemnity,  that  Eastern  thought 
is  now  invading  the  West;  and  that  he  himself  had 
become  a  theosophist!  I  have,  since  hearing  this 
statement,  travelled  considerably  over  this  country 
and  confess  that  his  statement  does  not  seem  so  ab- 
surd as  at  first  1  thought.  For,  I  have  seen  the  recent 
phenomenal  spread  of  Christian  Science  and  of  other 
vagaries  with  which  we  are  too  familiar  in  this  land. 
What  is  Christian  Science  but  the  subtle,  evasive 
idealism  of  India  unequally  yoked  to  a  form  of  Chris- 


294         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

tian  truth  and  ritual.  What  is  theosophy,  but  the 
stupefying  philosophy  and  the  benumbing  meta- 
physics of  the  East,  clothed  in  its  own  garb  of 
Oriental  mysticism  and  senseless,  spurious  occultism. 
It  is  a  sad  reflection  upon  our  Western  life  that  so 
many  people  who  fail  to  find  rest  in  the  divinely  in- 
spiring teachings  of  Christ,  sink  into  the  depths  of  a 
credulity  which  will  accept  the  inanities  of  Madame 
Blavatsky  and  the  wild  assumptions  of  Mrs.  Eddy. 
Let  these  people  go  out  to  India  and  live  there  for 
years  to  see  how  Hindu  thought  and  teachings  have, 
for  three  millenniums,  worked  out  their  legitimate 
results  in  the  life  of  the  teeming  millions  of  that  land. 
Let  them  observe  the  debasing  immorality,  the  hol- 
low ceremonialism,  the  all-pervasive  ignorance  and 
superstition  which  rest,  like  a  mighty  pall,  upon  that 
people  and  which  make  life  mean  and  render  noble 
manhood  impossible.  The  situation  in  India  reminds 
one  of  the  legendary  house  built  upon  the  banks  of 
Newfoundland.  The  foundation  was  completed 
when  a  dense  fog  swept  over  the  place  and  rested 
upon  all.  After  the  superstructure  was  built  and 
finished  the  fog  lifted  and  it  was  found,  alas,  that 
the  building  was  erected  some  two  hundred  yards 
away  from  the  foundation,  and  rested  upon  nothing! 
Whatever  one  may  say  about  Hindu  thought  and 
philosophy  as  a  basis  of  conduct,  that  people  have 
been  living  for  many  centuries  in  the  dense  fog  of 
ignorance,  superstition  and  ceremonialism;  and  their 
life  has  been  unworthy  and  debased  because  it  rested 
upon  nothing. 

But  there  is  another  form  of  this  awakened  Eastern 
thought  which  invites  our  attention  and  which  con- 


MISSIONART  PROBLEMS  295 

cerns  the  missionary  work  not  a  little.  It  appears 
there  in  a  reactionary  form  among  men  of  culture  and 
leads  many  of  them  to  turn  away  in  hearty  disap- 
proval from  our  faith.  They  are  wonderfully  drawn 
towards  Christ,  our  Lord.  His  praises  are  in  their 
mouths,  and  they  eagerly  study  his  example  and  life. 
They  claim  him  as  one  of  the  East  and,  therefore,  as 
one  of  themselves.  But  these  same  men  will  have 
none  of  Christianity,  because  it  is,  as  they  say,  of  the 
West,  Western.  One  of  their  number  recently  wrote 
an  article  under  the  following  caption:— **  Why  do 
We  Hindus  Accept  Christ  and  Reject  Christianity  ?  " 
He  claims  that  they  reject  our  faith  because  it  is  *'  not 
Christianity  but  Churchianity  ";  that  is,  it  savours  of 
the  Western  Church  more  than  it  does  of  Christ. 
There  is  a  great  deal  that  is  false  and  foolish  in  this 
contention;  and  yet  it  has  an  element  of  truth  in  it. 
We,  of  the  West,  have  not  realized,  perhaps  we 
never  can  fully  realize,  the  great  width  of  the  gulf 
which,  in  thought  and  life,  separates  the  Occident 
from  the  Orient.  Hence  we  have  in  part  failed  in 
the  duty  of  adapting  our  faith,  in  thought  and  ritual, 
to  the  taste  and  inherited  bias  of  that  people.  We 
forget  that  they  and  we  usually  approach  things 
temporal  and  spiritual  from  opposite  sides.  They 
are  deeply  mystical  and  poetic,  while  we  are  obtru- 
sively practical  and  meanly  prosaic.  Thus  the  West- 
ern colouring  and  emphasis  which  is  given  to  our 
faith  in  that  land  can  neither  be  appreciated  nor  ap- 
proved by  the  educated  Hindu.  Even  native  Chris- 
tians are  bemoaning  this  fact.  I  shall  never  forget 
the  eloquent  appeal  which  the  Hon.  Kali  Churn 
Banerjee,  a  leading  native  Christian   in  that  land, 


296         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

made  before  the  Bombay  Missionary  Conference, 
begging  the  missionaries  to  cease  emphasizing,  as  he 
said,  "adjectival"  Christianity  and  to  dwell  more 
upon  "substantive"  Christianity  before  the  people  of 
India.  It  is  a  sad  fact  that  we  carry  there  our  West- 
ern shibboleths,  our  antiquated  controversies,  and  our 
sectional  jealousies.  Most  of  these  are  not  only  un- 
intelligible in  India;  they  weary  the  people  and 
largely  bury  the  essentials  of  our  faith  from  public 
gaze  and  appreciation. 

The  question  returns  to  us  with  a  new  emphasis 
today, — How  much  of  our  Western  Christianity  can 
we  eliminate  and  how  much  must  we  retain  in  order 
to  present  to  that  people  the  gospel  in  its  simplicity 
and  saving  power?  How  much  of  our  modern 
Christianity  is  the  product  of  Western  thought,  in- 
terpretation and  life,  and  how  much  is  of  the  very 
essence  of  Christ's  message  ?  We  have  yet  much  to 
learn  and  are  to  be  overtaken  by  many  surprises  in 
this  matter,  I  believe.  God  forbid  that  we  should 
rob  our  message  of  one  tittle  of  its  essential  truth. 
But  may  He  enable  us  to  discriminate  more  and  more, 
and  lead  us  to  cease  encumbering  our  gospel  to  the 
East  with  such  unessential  thought  and  ritual  as  are 
suited  to  us  but  not  to  them. 

I  doubt  whether  we  of  the  West  can  accomplish 
this — it  can  ht  fully  done  only  when  the  Christian 
Church  in  India  shall  have  become  indigenous  and 
strong,  and,  when  freed  from  Western  influence  and 
leadership,  it  shall  do  its  own  thinking  and  shape  its 
own  ritual  and  ceremonial  on  Eastern  lines.  Then 
indeed  shall  we  behold  that  welcome  and  mighty 
movement  which  will  draw  completely  the  culture 


MISSIONART  PROBLEMS  297 

of  India  into  the  Christian  Church.  Then  also,  and 
not  until  then,  shall  we  begin  to  see  the  Indian  Church 
contributing  her  share  to  the  Christian  thought  and 
life  of  the  world.  We,  of  the  proud  West,  are  prone 
to  think  that  our  type  of  life  is  all-embracing  and  that 
our  religious  thought  is  all-satisfying.  Nothing  can 
be  more  fallacious  or  more  injurious  than  such  a  con- 
ceit. The  East  is  the  full  complement  of  the  West. 
In  life  and  thought  we  are  only  an  hemisphere,  and 
we  need  the  East  to  fill  up  our  full-orbed  beauty. 
The  mystic  piety  of  India  will  correct  our  too  prac- 
tical, mundane  view  of  things.  The  quiet,  passive 
virtues  which  find  their  perfect  realization  in  that  land 
we  must  learn  from  them  to  accentuate  in  addition  to 
the  more  aggressive  and  positive  virtues  of  the  West. 
All  this  is  to  take  place  in  the  no  distant  future.  The 
Kingdom  of  Christ  in  the  East  is  to  reach  out  its 
hand  to  the  West  and  both,  in  mutual  helpfulness, 
will  cooperate  in  bringing  this  whole  world  to  Christ. 
Then  shall  we  see  a  universal  kingdom  and  the  be- 
ginning of  the  fulfillment  of  the  blessed  vision  in 
which  "the  kingdoms  of  this  world  have  become 
the  kingdoms  of  our  Lord  and  of  his  Christ,  and  He 
shall  reign  forever  and  ever."    God  hasten  the  day. 


MISSIONARY  RESULTS 

WE  are  occasionally  compelled  to  read  and 
to  hear  detailed  and  emphatic  statements 
about  ''the  failure  of  missions."  An  in- 
creasing number  of  our  countrymen  spend  their 
vacation  days  in  hurried  trips  through  mission  fields. 
They  are  so  impressed  by  glimpses  of  the  strange  life 
and  institutions  of  the  Orient  that  they  have  neither 
time  nor  inclination  to  study  and  appreciate  the  mis- 
sionary work  and  organization  which  everywhere 
invites  their  attention.  They  return  home  absolutely 
ignorant  of  the  work  whose  power,  prevalence  and 
progress  they  might  easily  have  learned  on  their 
travels,  and  they  are  wont  to  hide  that  ignorance  be- 
hind the  emphatic  assurance  that  "there  was  nothing 
to  be  seen"  of  missions;  and  they  soon  convince 
themselves,  and  not  a  few  others,  that  what  they  did 
not  see  was  not  worth  seeing  or  was,  perchance, 
non-existent.  I  have  long  lived  on  one  of  the  great 
lines  of  travel  in  India  and  have  sorrowed  over  the 
fact  that  hardly  one  in  ten  of  our  travelling  country- 
men (and  many  of  them  members  of  our  home 
churches  too)  turn  aside  for  a  moment  from  gazing 
upon  Hindu  temples  to  study  the  important  work 
which  our  mission  is  carrying  forward  in  that  city 
and  district. 

Even  the  friends  of  missions  should  learn  what 
constitutes  missionary  success. 

298 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     299 

In  South  India  there  is  found  a  mission  which 
counts  its  converts  only  by  the  hundreds.  It  is 
known  in  Christian  lands  only  through  the  severe 
criticisms  which  have  been  heaped  upon  it  by  some 
good  Christian  men  because  it  is  an  educational 
mission. 

And  yet  I  sincerely  believe  that  that  abused  mission 
is  doing  a  work  not  inferior  to  that  of  any  other  mis- 
sion in  India  for  the  permanent  growth  and  highest 
achievement  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  in  that  land. 
Its  leavening  influence  upon  Hindu  thought  and  insti- 
tutions is  hardly  surpassed  by  that  of  any  other  mis- 
sion. In  the  wonderful  turning  of  the  educated 
classes  of  India  towards  Christ,  and  the  acceptance 
of  him  as  their  Ideal  of  life,  that  mission  has  a  posi- 
tion of  power.  Many  of  the  native  Christians  of 
greatest  influence,  culture  and  character  in  South 
India  trace  their  conversion  or  highest  efficiency  to 
the  work  and  influence  of  that  educational  mission. 
The  best  educated  pastor  in  the  Madura  district  came 
from  and  was  trained  by  that  mission;  as  also  its 
highest  and  best  Christian  teachers  received  their  final 
course  of  training  and  discipline  there. 

That  mission  is  largely  ignored  and  even  despised 
by  the  too  common  statistical  reckoning  of  results 
and  success.  And  yet  the  illustrious  name  of  Dr. 
Miller,  the  leader  of  that  mission,  will  be  cherished  in 
India  and  in  the  world  a  century  hence  as  a  chief 
among  those  who  were  instrumental  in  bringing  that 
great  people  to  Christ. 

The  mighty  and  unparalleled  revolution  which  is 
going  on  in  India  at  present,  as  a  result  of  missionary 
work,  is  not  to  be  tabulated  in  our  statistical  reports. 


300         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

The  deepest  currents  of  those  great  moral  and  spirit- 
ual forces  of  the  India  of  today  are  not  found  within 
the  realm  of  figures.  They  defy  tabulation;  and  yet 
they  bring  to  the  keen  Christian  observer  in  that  land 
more  encouragement,  because  they  have  more  signifi- 
cance, than  all  the  facts  and  figures  usually  found 
within  the  covers  of  an  ordinary  mission  report. 

A  great  deal  of  the  discouragement  and  pessimism 
about  missions  today  is  born  of  this  statistical  craze. 

Let  us  therefore  take  a  broad  view  of  the  work  of 
our  missions  and  study  some  of  the  results  achieved 
— results  which  are  almost  entirely  the  harvest  of  the 
labours  of  the  last  century. 

These  results  are  threefold. 

I.     Present  Missionary  Appliances. 

(a)  Protestant  missions  in  India  have  created  a 
plant  and  have  developed  appliances  which  are  not 
only  an  assurance  and  a  prolific  source  of  encourage- 
ment for  the  future;  they  are  also  monuments  of  the 
industry  and  wisdom  of  those  who  have  passed  on, 
and  definite  signs  of  God's  guidance  of,  and  blessing 
to,  the  work. 

In  the  first  place,  consider  the  buildings  and  other 
property  erected  and  owned  by  the  missionary  so- 
cieties and  utilized  for  the  maintenance  and  further- 
ance of  their  work  in  that  land. 

Few  people  realize  the  enormous  store  of  wealth 
which  is  thus  treasured  in  this  elaborate  mission  plant. 
Nor  can  they  appreciate  the  equivalent  of  this  in  terms 
of  moral  efficiency  and  spiritual  power  in  the  regen- 
eration of  India. 

The  thousands  of  acres  of  land  and  the  many 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     301 

thousands  of  substantial  edifices  erected  and  dedi- 
cated to  the  cause  of  Christ  in  connection  with  these 
missions  represent  an  investment  of  at  least  ten 
million  dollars;  and  this  money  not  only  represents 
the  generosity  of  Christians  in  the  West,  it  also  in- 
cludes the  self-denying  offerings  of  Indian  Christians, 
who  from  their  poverty  have  given  liberally  to  build 
up  the  cause  which  is  dear  to  their  hearts. 

Mission  educational  institutions  are  housed  in  a 
legion  of  substantial  and  beautiful  buildings  ranging, 
from  the  massive  imposing  structures  of  the  Madras 
Christian  College,  downward;  churches  there  are  of 
all  sizes  and  architectural  design,  frorri  the  magnifi- 
cent and  beautiful  stone  edifice  which  accommodates 
its  thousands  and  which  was  erected  by  the  Church 
Missionary  Society  in  Megnanapuram,  Tinnevelly, 
down  to  the  unpretentious  prayer-house  of  a  small 
village  congregation.  A  host  of  suitable  buildings 
for  hospitals,  presses  and  publishing  houses,  resi- 
dences for  missionaries  and  native  agents,  school 
dormitories,  gymnasia  and  lecture  halls;  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
and  other  societies'  buildings — all  these  represent 
that  power  for  service,  incarnate  in  brick  and  mortar, 
which  is  invaluable  and  even  indispensable  to  the 
great  missionary  enterprise  in  that  land. 

(b)  Nor  must  we  overlook  or  fail  to  estimate  ade- 
quately the  results  achieved  in  the  form  of  a  Christian 
literature.  Though  our  Protestant  missions  have  not 
cultivated,  as  extensively  as  they  should,  the  press 
and  the  publishing  house  as  a  missionary  agency,  they 
have  not  been  insensible  to  their  power  and  have 
utilized  extensively  the  printed  page. 

In  the  first  place  a  translated  and  a  well-circulated 


302         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

Bible  has  been  the  aim  and  pride  of  our  missions 
from  the  beginning.  The  humblest  native  of  that 
land  can  find,  in  his  own  vernacular,  the  Word  of 
God,  and  read  for  himself  the  message  of  God  in 
Christ  Jesus  to  his  sin-burdened  soul.  Who  can 
realize  the  work  involved  in  all  this,  or  the  achieve- 
ment which  it  represents? 

Then  the  Christian  hymnology  of  India  is  already 
a  rapidly  growing  power.  Every  important  ver- 
nacular has  one  or  more  Protestant  Christian  hymn 
books,  which  reveal  to  what  a  large  extent  our  faith 
has  inspired  and  made  vocal  the  praises  of  Zion  in 
that  land.  Nearly  all  of  these  Christian  hymns  in 
South  India  and  many  in  North  India  are  the  com- 
positions of  native  Christians  and  manifest  consider- 
able poetic  power  and  high  sentiment.  Though 
many  of  them  are  worthy  of  translation,  only  two 
have  thus  far  found  place  in  our  American  hymn 
books.  One  is  a  Tamil  hymn  composed  by  Yesu- 
thasan,  catechist,  and  translated  as  below  by  Rev.  E. 
Webb,— 

1.  Whither  with  this  crushing  load 
Over  Salem's  dismal  road, 

All  thy  body  suffering  so, 

O,  my  God  where  dost  thou  go  ? 

Chorus  :— 

Whither  Jesus  goest  thou, 
Son  of  God  what  doest  thou, 
On  this  City's  dolorous  way. 
With  that  cross,  O,  Sufferer  say  ? 

2.  Tell  me  fainting,  dying  Lord, 
Dost  thou  of  Thine  own  accord 
Bear  that  cross,  or  did  thy  foes 

'Gainst  thy  will,  that  load  impose. — Cho. 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     303 

3.  Patient  Sufferer  how  can  I 
See  thee  faint  and  fall  and  die, 

Pressed  and  peeled  and  crushed  and  ground 
By  that  cross  upon  thee  bound  ? — Cho. 

4.  Weary  arm  and  staggering  limb, 
Visage  marred,  eyes  growing  dim, 
Tongue  all  parched,  faint  at  heart, 
Bruised  and  sore  in  every  part ! — Cho. 

5.  Dost  thou  up  to  Calvary  go. 

On  that  cross  in  shame  and  woe, 

Malefactors  either  side 

To  be  nailed  and  crucified  ? — Cho. 

6.  Is  it  demon  thrones  to  shake. 
Death  to  kill,  sin's  power  to  break, 
All  our  ills  to  put  away, 

Life  to  give  and  endless  day  ? — Cho. 

Besides  this  there  is  an  ever-growing  mass  of 
Christian  literature  in  all  the  vernaculars  used  by  our 
missions;  and  this  is  becoming  increasingly  available 
as  a  power  for  the  uplifting  of  the  people  who  are, 
in  growing  numbers,  learning  to  read.  Beyond 
almost  every  other  appliance  for  the  Christianization 
of  that  people  there  stand  high  in  usefulness  and 
pervasive  influence  these  books,  tracts  and  magazines 
of  the  missions;  and  the  aid  which  they  furnish  to  all 
Christian  workers  in  that  land  is  beyond  computation. 
Missionaries  may  go  and  come,  and  mission  policy 
may  change,  but  this  Christian  Hterature  will  quietly 
and  mightily  work  out  its  own  benign  results  through- 
out the  land,  enlightening  the  people  and  appealing 
to  the  best  that  is  in  them. 

(^)  In  like  manner  the  missionary  educational  insti- 
tutions, which  cover  the  whole  land  as  a  great  n^t- 


304 


INDIA'S  PROBLEM 


work,  are  a  noble  product  of  missionary  ideals  and 
efforts  in  the  land.  They  are  in  themselves  an 
achievement  which  not  only  has  cost  millions  of 
rupees  for  its  creation  and  maintenance,  but  is  also 
the  product  of  some  of  the  best  thought  and  highest 
wisdom  of  many  choice  spirits  during  the  last  cen- 
tury. These  schools  constantly  furnish  to  the  Chris- 
tian Church  in  India,  for  intellectual  upbuilding,  for 
moral  guidance  and  for  spiritual  regeneration,  nearly 
a  half  million  of  the  brightest  youths  of  the  land. 
These  institutions  are  the  product  of  a  century  of 
endeavour;  and  it  can  be  truly  said  that  without  them 
the  Protestant  mission  of  India  would  be  shorn  of 
much  of  their  power  and  more  of  their  promise. 

In  the  present  organized  activity  of  missions  there 
stands  nothing  in  higher  esteem  than  these  institutions 
for  what  they  have  done  in  the  life  both  of  non- 
Christians  and  of  Christians  alike. 

(d)  In  connection  with  missionary  activity  in  that 
land  one  of  the  most  encouraging,  as  it  is  also  the 
most  monumental,  of  results,  is  the  large  army  of 
well-educated  and  thoroughly  equipped  men  and 
women  who  have  been  taken  from  among  the  people 
and  have  been  trained  and  placed  as  their  leaders  and 
guides. 

Perhaps  twenty-four  thousand  such  are  at 
present  giving  all  their  time  and  strength 
to  the  spiritual  training  of  the  Christian  community, 
to  preaching  to  non-Christians  and  to  the  instruction 
of  the  young  in  the  schools. 

India  is  to  be  brought  to  Christ  and  his  religion,  not 
through  the  efforts  of  the  foreigner,  so  much  as 
through  the  life  and  activity  of  men  and  women  of 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     305 

the  soil.  They  are  to  be  the  essential  factor  in  the 
future  prevalence  and  in  the  character  of  our  faith  in 
India.  Therefore  it  stirs  one  to  deepest  emotion  to 
behold  this  mighty  army  of  native  workers,  who  are 
praying  and  working  daily  in  that  land  for  the  con- 
version of  their  own  people  and  for  the  upbuilding 
of  the  Christian  community  in  all  that  is  characteristic 
of  our  faith.  As  I  have  been  permitted,  for  years,  to 
train  and  to  send  forth  into  that  great  harvest  field 
young  men  to  preach  the  gospel  of  Christ  and  to 
guide  the  churches  and  congregations  into  spiritual 
truth  and  life,  I  have  felt  that  it  was  the  highest  and 
best  opportunity  that  could  be  granted  to  any  mis- 
sionary worker  in  that  land.  This  work  of  training 
an  adequate  spiritual  agency  is  occupying  the  serious 
thought  of  all  missions.  There  are  no  theological 
seminaries  and  normal  training  schools  in  the  coun- 
try; in  these,  4,305  students,  of  both  sexes,  are  un- 
dergoing training. 

Many  of  the  agents  now  employed  are  men  and 
women  qualified  to  clearly  expound  the  truths  of  our 
faith  to  believers  and  unbelievers.  They  are  well 
fortified  against  attack  as  rational  defenders  of  Chris- 
tianity and  are  prepared  to  remove  doubts  which  may 
arise  in  the  minds  of  sincere  inquirers  and  wavering 
believers.  Not  all  of  them  are  such  as  we  could 
wish  in  intellectual  equipment  or  in  strength  of  char- 
acter. But  the  poorest  of  them  are  gradually  being 
replaced  by  better  ones;  and  the  intellectual,  moral 
and  spiritual  tone  of  the  whole  force  is  constantly 
improving.  The  ordained  native  clergy  are 
a  body  of  men  who  are  rapidly  growing  in 
efficiency    and    power.      There    are    905    in    India 


3o6         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

— nearly  as  many  as  there  are  ordained  missionaries 
in  the  same  area. 

A  comparison,  in  South  India,  between  the  force 
of  406  native  pastors  and  the  585  native  priests  of 
the  Romish  Church  shows  how  well,  relatively,  the 
Protestant  Church  of  South  India  is  supplied;  there 
being  one  native  pastor  to  every  1,500  of  the  Protes- 
tant community,  while  the  Romish  priests  are  only 
one  to  every  2,000  of  their  community. 

Some  of  these  pastors  are  university  graduates,  and 
all  are  men  of  good  professional  training.  They  are 
faithful  workers  and  are  increasingly  worthy,  and  en- 
joy the  confidence,  of  their  missionary  associates. 
Among  the  native  agents  of  our  Protestant  missions 
in  South  India  alone  there  are  about  100  university 
graduates,  200  First  in  Arts  (the  degree  granted  after 
two  years  of  college  work)  and  600  university 
matriculates.  This  thorough  utilization  of  a  strong, 
cultured,  native  agency  is  one  of  the  most  striking 
results  of  the  last  century's  work  in  that  land.  And 
it  is  the  more  remarkable  in  the  case  of  the  women, 
since  a  generation  ago  hardly  any  of  the  weaker  sex 
were  in  mission  employ,  while  today  the  missions  of 
South  India  alone  employ  3,000  of  them.  It  is  prac- 
tically the  creation  of  a  mighty  and  most  faithful  and 
devoted  agency  in  one  generation. 

What  may  we  not  expect  from  this  great  army  of 
native  brethren  and  sisters,  as  they  shall  continue  to 
grow  in  numbers  and  in  general  equipment,  and  as 
they  shall  be  filled  with  the  Spirit  of  God  and  be 
fully  used  by  our  Lord  in  the  redemption  of  their  own 
people! 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     307 

2.    The  Native  Christian  Community. 

Recent  statistics  give  the  total  number  of  Christians 
in  British  hidia  as  2,923,349/  This  is  a  growth  of 
about  640,000  in  ten  years,  four  times  more  than  the 
rate  of  growth  of  the  whole  population.  And  yet 
there  are  people  who  tell  us  that  the  kingdom  of  our 
Lord  is  not  coming  in  that  land! 

Of  the  above  number  of  Christians  2,664,359  are 
natives  of  India.  This  is  an  increase  of  over  630,000, 
or  about  thirty-one  per  cent,  of  Indian  Christians 
during  the  last  decade.  And  during  this  time  the 
general  population  of  India  has  increased  only  about 
two  and  one-half  per  cent. !  Analyzing  this  aggregate 
of  all  Christians  we  find  that  970,000  of  them  are 
native  Protestant  Christians.  This  represents  an  ad- 
vance of  50.87  per  cent,  during  the  last  ten 
years  in  that  community;  while  the  Romish  and  Syr- 

1  CENSUS  OF  CHRISTIANS    IN  INDIA,  MAY  2,  1901. 

Total  of  all  denominations 2,923,349 

European  and  other  races 258,990 

Natives. 2,664,359 

Toial  Returned.     Natives. 

Anglican 453,612  305,907 

Baptist 220,863  216,743 

Congregationalist 37.876  37.313 

Lutheran  and  allied  denominations .  .    .    .  155.455  ^53.768 

Methodist 76,869  68,451 

Presbyterian 53.829  42,799 

Friends 1,309  1,275 

Roman  Catholic 1,202,039  1,122,378 

Salvationist 18,960  18,847 

Syrian 57^.327  57^.320 

Scattering 131,210  125,558 

The  returns  for  Congregationalists  do  not  include  the  members  of 
the  London  Missionary  Society  Missions, — these  being,  apparently, 
included  among  the  "  Scattering." 


3o8         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

ian  native  Christian  communities  have  gained  21.44 
per  cent,  in  the  same  time.  Thus  it  will  be 
seen  that  the  rapid  progress  of  our  faith  in  that  land 
of  the  East  depends  chiefly  upon  the  remark- 
able advance  of  Protestantism  among  the  people  of 
India.  This  is  certainly  a  result  most  encouraging  to 
Protestant  Christian  workers  in  that  land.  That  this 
decade's  growth  is  not  abnormal  is  attested  by  the 
fact  that  the  native  Protestant  Christians  of  India  are 
more  than  ten  times  what  they  were  fifty  years  ago. 

In  view  of  the  fact  that  the  whole  Christian  com- 
munity of  India  is  only  one  per  cent,  of  the  total 
population,  one  may  be  inclined  to  feel  discouraged. 
And  yet  if  the  relative  growth  of  the  whole  popula- 
tion and,  say,  of  the  Protestant  Christian  community 
for  the  last  decade  be  maintained  for  one  hundred 
and  thirty  years  more,  the  whole  population  will  be 
found  Christian  of  the  Protestant  type. 

These  figures  indicate  the  magnificent  development 
of  our  work  in  that  land.  And  when  we  remember 
the  splendid  equipment  and  wonderful  modern  appli- 
ances of  the  missionary  organizations  of  today  we 
can  easily  believe  that,  even  within  another  century, 
Christianity  will  become  the  prevailing  faith  of  India. 

A  large  number,  in  our  Christian  community,  has 
been  gathered  through  mass  movements,  where  cer- 
tain castes  and  classes  have,  in  large  bodies,  sought 
the  blessings  of  our  faith.  In  Tinnevelly,  for  in- 
stance, the  Shanar  caste  was  early  influenced  by 
Christian  workers;  and,  as  they  are  a  very  clannish 
community,  many  thousands  of  them  have  embraced 
the  Christian  faith  and  have  been  wonderfully  trans- 
formed and  elevated  through  their  contact  with  it. 


MISSIONARY  RESULTS     309 

One  of  the  most  marvellous  manifestations  of  the 
power  of  the  Gospel  is  presented  today  in  that  dis- 
trict by  this  people,  who,  under  missionary  influence 
and  Christian  training,  have  risen  from  great  depths 
of  ignorance  and  social  degradation  until  they  stand 
among  the  highest  of  that  land  in  intelligence  and  in 
the  spirit  of  progress.  Most  of  the  Christians  of 
Tinnevelly  belong  to  this  once  despised  class  and 
are,  in  many  respects,  full  of  vigour  and  enterprise. 

In  the  famous  Telegu  Baptist  Mission  we  find  a 
similar  movement.  That  American  Mission  laboured 
for  twenty-five  years  without  much  encouragement. 
After  those  years  the  outcastes  of  the  community 
began  to  appreciate  the  advantages  of  our  faith  and 
to  apply  for  admission  into  its  congregations.  It 
gathered  them  in  by  thousands  until  it  has  become 
by  far  the  largest  mission  in  the  country.  It  repre- 
sents nearly  one  quarter  of  the  whole  Protestant 
Christian  community  of  India. 

During  the  last  few  years  a  similar  movement  has 
overtaken  the  American  Methodist,  and  other  mis- 
sions in  North  India.  Many  thousands  of  the  de- 
pressed classes,  within  its  area,  have  sought  a  refuge 
from  their  ills  and  a  Saviour  for  their  souls  in  the 
Christian  fold;  so  that  it  taxes  all  the  energies  and  re- 
sources of  the  mission  to  keep  pace  with  the  movement 
and  to  instruct  adequately,  in  Christian  truth,  these 
ignorant  masses  who  flock  unto  it.  Bishop  Thoburn 
says  that  more  than  100,000  of  this  class  are  now 
waiting  to  be  received  into  their  community;  but 
that  their  mission  has  not  the  men  or  means  to  in- 
struct them. 

In  other  missions,  also,  reports  are  being  received 


310         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

of  similar  movements  now  going  forward  on  a 
smaller  scale.  Some  missionaries  of  these  fields 
have  written  to  me  stating  that  the  only  limit  to  the 
growth  and  development  of  their  missions  is  that  of 
men  and  money  wherewith  to  instruct  and  properly 
direct  the  people  who  come  seeking  for  light  and 
help/ 

In  the  great  majority  of  missions,  however,  growth 
has  been  general  and  normal;  people  have  come  as 
individuals  and  as  families,  separating  themselves, 
after  much  thought  and  prayer,  from  those  who  are 
dearest  to  them  upon  earth,  and  passing  through  a 
sea  of  tribulation  and  persecution  into  the  Christian 
life. 

It  has  been  claimed  by  Hindus,  and  by  some  others, 
that  Hinduism  is  a  tolerant  faith — that  it  does  not  re- 
sort to  persecution.  In  one  respect  this  is  true.  As 
we  have  before  seen,  it  will  permit  its  members  to 
hold  any  doctrine  and  to  accept  any  teaching  that 
they  please.  It  has  no  punishment  nor  even  a  voice 
of  disapprobation  to  its  member  who  is  a  rationalist, 
an  atheist,  or  a  Christian  so  far  as  acceptance  of  such 
belief  or  non-belief  is  concerned.  And,  so  far  as 
conduct  is  concerned,  a  man  may  be  a  libertine,  a 
robber  or  a  murderer,  and  yet  maintain  his  religious 
status.  But  when  it  comes  to  the  violation  of  caste 
rules  it  is  very  different.  Hinduism  will  tolerate  any- 
thing but  caste  insubordination.  So  that  when  a 
man,  in  becoming  a  Christian,  severs  his  connection 
with  his  caste  and  becomes,  socially,  an  alien  to  his 
people,  then  Hinduism  steps  in  and  brings  to  bear 

1  See  Toronto  Convention  Report  of  Student  Volunteer  Move- 
ment, p.  378. 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     311 

upon  him  all  the  bitter  penalties  of  caste  infliction, 
and  persecutes  him  in  a  thousand  social  ways  such  as 
make  life  a  burden  unto  him.  The  engine  of  caste  is 
the  most  complete  and  mighty  instrument  of  religious 
persecution  the  world  has  known,  as  many  thousands 
of  our  native  Christians  have  learned  to  their  bitter  cost. 

When  a  man  decides  to  become  a  Christian  there 
is  very  little  opposition  to  this  purpose  among  his 
people  so  long  as  his  decision  involves  only  his  be- 
lief, conviction  and  private  devotion  and  prayer.  But 
when  it  leads  him  to  a  public  confession  of  Christ 
and  to  baptism,  which  is  regarded  as  his  renuncia- 
tion of  caste  rules,  affinities  and  obligations,  then  all 
the  spite  of  caste  tyranny  is  showered  upon  him. 
He  is  boycotted  thoroughly.  None  of  his  caste  peo- 
ple, not  even  his  own  Hindu  family,  will  eat  with 
him.  The  family  and  caste  washerman  is  no  longer 
permitted  to  serve  him;  their  barber  will  not  shave 
him,  and  the  blacksmith,  carpenter,  mason  and  other 
village  servants  decline  to  render  him  their  wonted 
service.  So  that  he  is  absolutely  helpless.  It  requires 
a  very  strong  man  to  face  all  this  kind  of  annoyance 
and  deprivation,  and  to  stand  firm  in  the  new  life 
upon  which  he  has  entered  and  continue  loyal  to  the 
new  faith  which  he  has  embraced. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  such  rigours  of  persecution 
are  not  carried  out  in  all  cases  at  present.  Though 
this  is  the  spirit  and  method  of  caste,  yet  the  influ- 
ence of  home  ties  and  family  affection  and  the  social 
position  and  influence  of  a  new  convert  may  be  such 
as  to  mitigate  this  public  opposition  to  his  Christian 
decision.  But  the  engine  of  persecution  is  there, 
always  ready  for  use. 


312         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

The  question  has  often  been  asked  as  to  the  mo- 
tives which  animated  those  of  our  Christian  com- 
munity who  denied  their  ancestral  faith  in  order  to 
become  Christians.  In  this  land  many  have  an  idea, 
in  some  cases  expressed  but  in  many  unexpressed, 
that  most  of  the  Christian  converts  in  India  are  what 
are  denominated  "rice  Christians."  This  charge 
against  the  adherents  of  our  faith  in  that  land  is  as 
unworthy  as  it  is  untrue.  That  some  embrace  our 
religion  and  take  upon  them  the  name  of  Christ  from 
unworthy  motives  we  know — perhaps  this  is  a  thing 
not  confined  to  India.  But  it  has  always  been  a  sur- 
prise to  me,  not  that  so  many,  but  that  so  few,  join 
our  missions  from  worldly  or  unworthy  motives. 
For  they  soon  learn  that  the  missionary  of  their  dis- 
trict is  a  friend  of  the  poor  and  the  oppressed;  and 
they  are  constantly  suffering  from  the  injustice  and  the 
rapacity  of  Brahmans  and  of  other  members  of  their 
own  faith  who  are  above  them.  Outside  of  slavery 
there  are  few  people  who  are  subject  to  grosser  in- 
justice at  the  hand  of  men  of  wealth  and  of  power 
than  are  the  poor,  down-trodden  people  of  India. 

Most  of  them  are  also  groaning  in  the  deepest  pit 
of  poverty.  Poverty  is  a  relative  term.  As  com- 
pared with  India,  America  knows  absolutely  no 
poverty.  The  poverty  of  India  is  crushing,  over- 
whelming. When  we  remember  that  according  to 
government  statistics,  the  average  income  of  a  man 
for  the  support  of  his  family  in  India  is  less  than 
$1.50  a  month  we  get  a  glimpse  of  what  abject  pov- 
erty means. 

And  when  we  further  remember  that,  during  many 
months  and  seasons  of  his  life,  even  this  is  partly 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     313 

denied  him,  owing  to  frequent  droughts  and  other 
unpreventable  evils,  we  know  in  part  how  an  unsat- 
isfied craving,  and  pinching  distress  overwhelm  a 
large  proportion  of  that  population.  Government 
statistics  show  that  one-fifth  of  the  population  are  in 
a  chronic  state  of  hunger. 

And  yet  I  heartily  bear  testimony  that  compara- 
tively few  of  our  people  have  become  Christians  in 
order  that  they  might  receive  physical  and  temporal 
blessings.  We  dare  not  say  that  this  motive  does 
not  exist;  but  we  are  confident  that  in  three-fourths 
of  our  converts  it  is  not  the  prevailing  or  the  domi- 
.  nant  motive.  There  is  a  soul-hungering  and  a  heart- 
thirsting  in  India  such  as  are  not  in  any  way  satisfied 
by  their  ancestral  faith.  And  Christianity  appeals  to 
the  people  increasingly  as  a  soul-satisfier  and  as  a 
power  of  God  unto  salvation;  and  they  more  and 
more  realize  this  fact  and  are  impelled  more  by  that 
motive  than  by  any  other  in  transferring  their  alle- 
giance from  Krishna  to  Christ. 

And  even  when  some  do  come  with  prevailingly 
low  and  sordid  motives  and  seek  to  be  enrolled  as 
members  of  the  Christian  community,  we  dare  not 
discourage  or  deny  them;  because  we  hope  soon, 
after  they  have  united  with  our  community  and  have 
placed  themselves  under  Christian  instruction,  to  im- 
part to  them  loftier  conceptions  of  life  and  of  truth. 
And  even  should  we  fail  to  reform  them  and  to  give 
them  worthy  views  of  our  religion  and  of  their  rela- 
tionship to  it,  we  entertain  the  hope  that  their  chil- 
dren will  become  worthy  and  genuine  Christians. 
Many  of  the  best  and  most  honoured  members  of  our 
community,    today,    are    the    children    and    grand- 


314         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

children  of  very  unsatisfactory  Christians  of  the 
past. 

I  might  say  here  that  missionaries  are  being  fright- 
ened less  and  less  by  the  charges  so  frequently  made, 
by  those  who  know  the  situation  least,  concerning 
the  unworthy  motives  of  those  who  become  Chris- 
tians. Indeed,  to  be  frank,  the  question  of  motives 
is,  in  my  opinion,  one  of  very  little  consequence, 
save  as  it  may  involve  down-right  hypocrisy  or  gross 
deception. 

Ordinarily  we  do  not  expect,  from  a  people  who 
have  been  brought  up  in  so  selfish  and  so  debasing 
and  sordid  an  atmosphere  as  that  of  the  common 
Hindu  of  today,  a  highly  spiritual,  or  a  purely  ethical 
motive  in  becoming  Christians.  If  such  be  the  pre- 
vailing motive,  or  even  if  we  are  convinced  that  it  is 
not  absent,  we  are  satisfied.  Nor  can  there  be  any- 
thing wrong  if  a  man  in  India  seeks  alliance  with 
Christianity  in  order  to  better  his  earthly  circum- 
stances. This  may  mean  a  purpose  to  secure  an 
education  and  the  blessings  of  civilization  and  culture 
for  his  children;  or  it  may  reveal  a  desire  for  relief 
from  injustice,  or  protection  from  gross  tyranny;  it 
may  signify  merely  a  vague  hope  that,  by  becoming 
a  Christian,  the  general  circumstances  both  of  him- 
self and  family  will  be  improved.  There  is  nothing 
intrinsically  evil  in  any  of  these  ambitions  nor  in 
seeking  Christian  affiliation  largely  with  a  view  to 
obtaining  these,  provided  always  that  there  is  also  a 
conviction  of  the  moral  and  spiritual  excellence  of 
our  faith  and  of  its  ability  to  satisfy  the  soul's  need. 
And  this  we  may  generally  assume  in  a  man  who 
voluntarily  severs  his  connection  with  the  faith  of 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     315 

his  ancestors,  and  from  a  religion  which  was  a  part 
of  his  own  deepest  life. 

Nor  should  the  deep  ignorance  of  many  of  those 
who  become  Christians  lead  us  hastily  to  conclude 
that,  because  they  know  so  little  about  our  faith, 
they  therefore  are  unable  to  appreciate  or  enjoy  any 
of  its  spiritual  blessings.  I  have  often  been  surprised 
to  see  how  many  very  ignorant  Christians,  and  those 
who  greatly  try  our  patience  at  times,  both  by  their 
stupidity  and  their  crooked  lives,  nevertheless  often 
reveal  beautiful  touches  of  a  genuine  faith  and  of  a 
most  direct  and  simple  trust;  and  they  stand  nobly 
firm  under  the  most  trying  and  worrying  persecu- 
tion which  Hinduism  knows  too  well  how  to  inflict 
upon  those  who  desert  and  deny  it. 

It  has  often  been  charged,  with  a  view  to  discredit 
missionary  effort  in  India,  that  the  converts  gathered 
into  the  Christian  fold  have  been  from  the  lowest 
social  stratum,  and  not  from  the  higher  and  ruling 
classes  of  society.  Even  if  this  charge  were  entirely 
true,  I  can  see  in  it  nothing  reflecting  upon  the  suc- 
cess of  our  cause  in  that  land. 

It  has,  indeed,  in  all  ages  and  land.s,  been  the 
normal  process  of  Christian  conquest,  to  gather  in 
the  lower  classes  first.  It  is  not  by  filtering  down- 
ward but  by  leavening  upward  that  Christianity  has 
been  wont  to  enter  and  to  transform  nations.  As 
this  was  the  initial  method  in  apostolic  days,  so  has 
it  continued  through  all  the  history  of  the  Church. 
It  has  been  by  the  weak  and  despised  things  of  the 
world  that  our  Lord  has  brought  to  nought  and  then 
won  the  mighty.  It  is  so  in  India.  Perhaps  three- 
fourths  of  the  native  Christians  of  that  land  are  from 


3i6         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

the  non-Aryan  community— from  the  aboriginal 
classes  over  whom  the  sway  of  Hinduism  is  less 
complete  than  it  is  over  the  Aryan  races.  This  is 
doubtless  one  reason  why  two-thirds  of  all  the  Chris- 
tians of  India  are  found  in  Southern  India— among 
the  Dravidians,  who,  as  we  have  seen,  are  more  the 
children  of  Demonolatry  than  they  are  of  Brahmanism. 
And  yet,  let  it  not  be  supposed  that  the  Turanians  of 
the  South  are  far  inferior  to  the  Aryans  of  the  North; 
or  that  the  salvation  of  the  so-called  *'  aborigines  " 
of  India,  of  whom  there  are  more  than  sixty  millions, 
is  unworthy  of  our  highest  ambition. 

Neither  let  it  be  thought  that  Christianity  has  not 
made  glorious  inroad  upon  the  middle  classes  and 
even  upon  the  highest  class  in  that  land — the  Brah- 
mans.  It  is  true  that,  thus  far,  not  very  many  of 
that  high  and  haughty  caste  have  openly  professed 
Christ.  It  is  equally  true,  however,  that  some  of  the 
best  members  of  our  Christian  community  are  con- 
verted Brahmans.  The  Indian  Christian  community 
is  proud  of  such  men  as  the  Hon.  Kali  Churn  Ban- 
nerjee,  Dr.  K.  M.  Bannerjee,  Rev.  K.  C.  Chatterjee, 
Rae  Maya  Das  and  the  Hon.  N.  Subramanien,  not  be- 
cause they  were  Brahmans,  but  because  they  have 
consecrated  to  the  Lord  all  their  distinguished  ability, 
and  because  they  excel  in  their  possession  of  Chris- 
tian graces. 

These  names,  and  many  others  like  them,  reveal 
the  growing  power  that  our  faith  is  wielding  over 
men  of  position  in  that  land.  At  the  coronation  of 
King  Edward,  in  London,  twenty  representatives  of 
the  Indian  Christian  Church  were  present.  Of  these, 
six  are  ruling  princes;  perhaps  the  most  distinguished 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     317 

of  them  is  Sir  Harnam  Singh  Ahluwalia,  K.  C.  I.  E. 
He  is  a  man  of  culture — "a  true  representative  of 
educated  India." 

He  was  entrusted  by  the  Indian  Christians  to  con- 
vey their  address  to  the  king  upon  the  occasion  of 
his  coronation.  Sir  Harnam  Singh's  usefulness  and 
success  largely  depend  upon  the  support,  which 
he  receives,  in  all  good  things,  from  his  wife, 
Lady  Singh,  who  is  the  daughter  of  Rev.  Golak 
Nath. 

The  devout  Henry  Martyn,  nearly  a  century  ago, 
with  mingled  discouragement  and  yearning,  declared 
that  to  see  one  Hindu  a  real  believer  in  Jesus  would 
be  something  more  nearly  approaching  the  resurrec- 
tion of  a  dead  body  than  anything  he  had  yet  seen. 
The  illustrious  Jesuit  missionary,  the  Abbe  Du  Bois, 
mourned  that,  even  after  a  long  period  of  faithful 
work,  he  believed  he  had  seen  no  genuine  convert  to 
Christianity  in  that  land.  How  would  those  two 
great  friends  of  India  rejoice  today  were  they  to  see 
the  glorious  harvest  which  Christianity  has  been  per- 
mitted to  gather  during  the  last  century  from  that 
great  people!  And  among  the  best  of  them  are  to 
be  seen  not  a  few  representatives  of  the  haughty 
Brahman  caste  and  also  members  of  the  crushed  and 
despised  outcaste  Pariah  community. 

It  is  well  to  remember  that  it  has  been  the  ambition 
of  missionaries  in  India,  not  so  much  to  gather  in 
numerous  accessions  from  the  social  and  intellectual 
aristocracy  of  the  land,  as  to  create  out  of  the  Indian 
Christian  community,  however  degraded  may  have 
been  its  origin,  an  aristocracy  of  character  and  of  true 
culture.     And  in  this  they  have  achieved  remarkable 


3i8         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

success.  For  the  native  Christian  community  is  be- 
ing most  rapidly  transformed  in  these  respects. 
Remember,  please,  the  condition,  previous  to  their 
embracing  our  faith,  of  those  outcaste  people  who 
now  constitute  three-fourths  of  the  Christian  com- 
munity. They  were  not  only  socially  ostracized, 
and  therefore  wanting  in  all  traits  of  manly  asser- 
tion, of  independence  and  of  self-respect.  They 
were  also  in  deepest  ignorance.  Not  five  per  cent, 
of  them  could  either  read  or  write.  Moreover  they 
were  under  serious  religious  disability.  Though 
nominal  Hindus,  they  had  no  right  to  enter  purely 
Hindu  temples  nor  to  approach  in  worship  any 
strictly  Hindu  deity.  The  most  sacred  of  Hindu 
religious  books  were  denied  them,  and  the  most 
cherished  of  Hindu  rites  and  ceremonies  they  were 
deemed  totally  unfit  to  observe. 

All  that  they  could  claim  was  permission  to  ap- 
pease the  demons  of  their  ancestral  worship.  I  have 
seen  these  outcastes,  who,  while  absorbed  into 
Hinduism,  nevertheless  live  constantly  under  its 
ban.  They  erect  fine  halls  and  shrines  in  Brahman- 
ical  temples,  but  are  not  permitted  to  enter  them 
after  the  day  of  their  dedication  to  Hindu  wor- 
ship. Hinduism  has  never  declined  any  pecuniary 
offerings  from  these  despised  ones;  and  yet  it  has 
never  deemed  it  its  province  or  duty  to  impart  its  re- 
ligious blessings  to  them.  It  has  denied  to  them  in- 
struction, comfort  and  salvation.  Is  it  a  wonder  that 
most  of  the  people  were  almost  on  a  level  with 
brutes  so  far  as  thoughts  of  the  highest  interests  of 
the  soul  are  concerned .?  These  are  the  people  whom 
Christianity    has    delighted    to    rescue    from    their 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     319 

thralldom  and  to  build  up  in  religious  thought,  ambi- 
tion and  spiritual  blessings. 

It  has  applied  itself  to  the  task  of  raising  them 
from  their  low  estate.  It  has  erected  buildings  for 
their  instruction.  In  most  cases  its  prayer-houses 
have  been  daily  used  as  schoolhouses  where  the 
young  have  been  instructed;  so  that  today  this  com- 
munity stands  distinguished  among  the  other  com- 
munities in  the  land  for  its  intelligence. 

For  example,  the  total  number  of  Christian  youth 
in  mission  schools  in  South  India  is  62,000 — two- 
thirds  of  them  being  boys  and  one-third  girls,  which 
represents  a  percentage  to  the  total  of  school-going- 
age  of  68.7  for  boys  and  33.7  for  girls;  and  this 
while,  in  the  general  community,  only  twelve  per 
cent,  of  those  who  are  of  an  age  to  be  at  school  are 
attending  school.  Among  the  Brahmans  only  is 
literacy  more  common  than  among  Indian  Christians. 
And  even  that  caste,  which  has  for  thirty  centuries 
represented  the  cultured  aristocracy  of  India,  must 
look  to  its  laurels;  for,  though  their  males  are  pre- 
eminent in  culture,  the  females  are  as  illiterate  as  any 
class  in  India,  only  six  in  1,000  being  able  to  read. 
In  the  Christian  community,  on  the  other  hand,  the 
women  are  not  far  behind  the  men  in  the  race  for 
culture.  It  is  therefore  not  difficult  to  prophesy  that 
the  day  is  not  far  off  when  the  Indian  Christians, 
among  whom  both  sexes  find  equal  opportunity  and 
inducement  to  study  in  the  schools,  will  outstrip  the 
Brahmans  and  stand  preeminent  as  the  educated  and 
cultured  class  of  India. 

This  is  as  true  in  the  higher  as  in  the  lower  grades 
of    education.     There    are   today  living  418  native 


320         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

Christian  graduates  of  the  Madras  University.  Last 
year  twenty-seven  of  these  Christian  youth  received 
the  B.  A.  degree  in  that  Presidency  alone,  and  the  only 
three  Indian  ladies  who  have  seized  the  difficult  and 
much  coveted  prize  of  Master  of  Arts  from  that  Uni- 
versity are  Christians.  These  facts  are  significant  and 
reveal  the  marvellous  progress  made  by  this  once 
despised  community. 

As  to  the  character  of  these  Christians  the  testi- 
mony of  Sir  Alexander  Mackensie,  a  distinguished 
Anglo  Indian  statesman  of  large  experience,  may  be 
of  interest: — "The  advance  made  (in  missions)  dur- 
ing my  time,"  he  says,  "have  been  substantial  and 
encouraging,  and  it  is  my  firm  belief  that  the  day- 
spring  of  still  better  things  is  very  close  at  hand, 
while  the  simple  faith  and  godly  lives  of  many  native 
Christians,  might  put  all,  or  most  of  us  certainly,  to 
the  blush." 

It  may  be  well  to  add  emphasis  here  to  the  position 
of  woman  in  the  native  Christian  community  as  a 
direct  result  of  mission  endeavour  in  that  land. 

The  new  womanhood  of  the  infant  native  Chris- 
tian community  has  begun  to  impress  itself  upon  the 
land.  There  are  nearly  five  hundred  thousand 
women  and  girls  connected  with  the  Protestant 
missions  of  that  country  today.  They  are  being 
trained  for,  and  introduced  to,  new  spheres  and  op- 
portunities such  as  the  women  of  India  never  dreamed 
of  before.  Thousands  of  them  are  engaged  as 
teachers  and  as  Bible  women.  Some  practice  medi- 
cine; others  adorn  and  cheer  the  homes,  beautify 
the  lives  and  strengthen  the  work  of  pastors  and 
preachers,  of  teachers,  doctors  and  other  professional 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     321 

men.  They  grow  into  the  full  bloom  of  woman- 
hood before  they  leave  their  school  training;  and 
they  go  forth  well  equipped  intellectually,  morally 
and  spiritually  for  the  manifold  duties  of  life. 

The  last  few  years  have  not  only  helped  the  Chris- 
tian women  of  the  land,  as  a  class,  they  have  also 
brought  into  distinction  many  of  them  who  are 
worthy  to  stand  among  the  eminent  women  of  the 
age  and  world. 

The  first  of  these,  both  on  account  of  the  remark- 
able career  which  she  has  led  and  of  the  noble  work 
which  she  is  performing,  is  the  well-known  Pundita 
Ramabai.  Herself  a  Brahman  widow,  who  lost  her 
father  in  the  tender  years  of  childhood  and  who  sub- 
sequently entered  into  the  joys  and  blessed  power  of 
a  Christian  life,  she  dedicated  herself  to  the  work  of 
redeeming  her  unfortunate  Hindu  sisters  from  their 
sad  lot.  To  this  noble  work  of  philanthropy  and  of 
heroic  Christian  service  she  has  given  herself  abso- 
lutely; and  through  distinguished  administrative  skill 
and  a  triumphant  faith  she  has  achieved  marvellous 
success.  Beside  her  well-known  institution  for  child- 
widows  at  Poonah— the  Sharada  Sadan,  which  the 
writer  visited  and  greatly  admired— the  recent  famine 
inspired  her  to  a  new  effort  to  save  the  waifs  and 
orphans  of  that  region.  So  that,  today,  she  has 
under  her  care  more  than  two  thousand  of  the  un- 
fortunate ones  of  her  own  sex  whom  she  is  not  only 
protecting  and  wisely  training  for  worthy  positions 
in  life,  but  is  also  bringing  forward  into  the  joys  of  a 
true  Christian  life.  Few  women,  in  any  land,  have 
found  a  more  useful,  or  more  honourable,  career  than 
this  noble  woman  of  the  East.    She  combines,  in  a 


322         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

rare  degree,  large  capacity  for  work,  the  highest 
sanity  in  her  methods  and  the  deepest  love  for  those 
whom  she  has  given  her  life  to  bless. 

The  Sorabjis,  also  of  Western  India,  have  achieved 
distinction  beyond  most  native  Christian  families. 
Mr.  Sorabji  was  one  of  the  few  Parsees  who  have 
embraced  Christianity.  One  of  the  daughters  of  the 
family,  the  widow  of  an  Englishman,  lives  in  London 
and  has  delighted  the  Queen  by  her  exquisite  render- 
ing of  Persian  songs.  One  sister  is  an  artist,  whose 
paintings  are  exhibited  in  Paris  and  London.  One  is 
a  surgeon  of  distinction.  It  was  another  daughter  of 
this  family  who  was  the  only  representative  of  her  sex 
from  the  Orient  at  the  Parliament  of  Religions  in 
Chicago.  The  most  distinguished  of  these  seven 
sisters  is  Cornelia  Sorabji,  the  barrister.  Her  gradu- 
ating paper  on  "Roman  Law,"  at  Oxford,  was 
classed  among  the  best  papers  produced  by  the 
pupils  of  that  famous  institution.  She  is  the  first 
lady  barrister  of  India,  and  is  not  only  a  powerful 
advocate,  but  also  a  brilliant  writer,  as  her  book  and 
her  articles  on  the  woman  question  in  "The  Nine- 
teenth Century  "  amply  testify. 

Toru  Dutt,  of  Calcutta,  one  of  the  brilliant  young 
stars  of  India,  was  versed  in  French,  German  and  Eng- 
lish. At  twenty-one  she  published  "  A  Sheaf  Gleaned 
in  French  Fields."  It  is  a  skillful  and  able  English 
translation  of  the  works  of  famous  French  authors. 
She  and  her  sister,  Aru,  were  remarkably  talented. 
It  is  sad  that  she,  who  was  so  full  of  intellectual 
brightness  and  so  beautiful  in  Christian  life,  should 
have  been  taken  away  by  death  in  the  bloom  of  life. 

Miss  Goreh  is  the  only  Indian  Christian  who  has 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     323 

thus  far  added  to  our  popular  English  hymnology. 
Her  beautiful  hymn: 

"  In  the  secret  of  His  presence  how  my  soul  delights  to  hide ; 
Oh,  how  precious  are  the  moments  which  I  spend  at  Jesus'  side. 
Earthly  cares  can  never  reach  me,  neither  trials  bring  me  low ; 
For  when  Satan  comes  to  tempt  me  to  the  Secret  Place  I  go," — 

has  been  a  blessing  to  many  in  this  land  of  ours. 

Mrs.  Sattianathan  of  Madras  (the  wife  of  a  distin- 
guished Indian  Christian)  was  another  bright  young 
woman  who  showed  marked  evidence  of  talent  as  an 
English  writer.  Her  books,  descriptive  of  the  life 
both  of  Hindu  and  of  Indian  Christian  women,  have 
had  deservedly  large  popularity.  They  created  in 
many  of  her  friends  a  hope  for  even  greater  results 
from  her.  But,  alas,  these  hopes  were  soon  shattered 
by  her  sad  and  premature  death. 

The  second  Mrs.  Sattianathan,  herself  an  M.  A.  of 
the  Madras  University,  has  entered  upon  a  brilliant 
career  as  a  writer,  and  has  established  the  first  English 
monthly  magazine  for  her  Indian  sisters — a  magazine 
which  is  full  of  attractiveness  and  promise. 

These  ladies  are  only  a  few  of  those  who  illustrate 
the  ability,  devotion,  beauty  and  promise  of  the 
women  of  India.  Such  are  preeminently  the  hope  of 
that  country. 

It  was  while  looking  upon  one  of  these  Indian 
Christian  ladies  that  the  late  Benjamin  Harrison,  Ex- 
President  of  the  United  States,  remarked  that  if  he 
had  spent  a  million  dollars  for  missions  and  had  seen, 
as  a  result  of  his  offering,  only  one  such  convert  as 
Miss  Singh  he  would  still  have  considered  his  offering 
a  most  profitable  investment. 


324         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

These  women  are  creating  their  own  opportunities 
and  will,  ere  long,  achieve  much  in  all  the  ranks  of 
life  and  especially  in  their  own  peculiar  sphere  of 
womanly  activity  and  influence.  Woman  will  do 
more  for  the  progress  and  development  of  the 
country  than  the  sterner  sex,  as  she  has  hitherto  done 
more  than  he  to  conserve  and  dignify  the  past.  And 
it  is  safe  to  conclude  that  the  womanhood  of  India 
will  discover  its  chief  glory  as  it  now  finds  its 
largest  opportunity  in  Christianity.  And  I  may  add 
that  the  mission  of  Christianity  to,  and  in  behalf  of, 
the  women  of  that  land  may  almost  be  called  its 
chief  mission,  as  the  results  which  it  has  achieved, 
and  will  yet  achieve,  in  this  line,  will  constitute  its 
chief  glory. 

At  large  centres  the  Indian  Christian  community  is 
already  beginning  to  feel  its  power  and  is  organizing 
in  behalf  of  its  own  highest  interest. 

The  "  Madras  Native  Christian  Association"  is  per- 
haps the  strongest  organization  of  the  community. 
It  unites  hundreds  of  the  best  members  and  gives 
them  a  corporate  existence  and  furnishes  opportunity 
to  render  articulate  the  ideals,  ambitions  and  needs  of 
the  Christian  community.  It  has  recently  under- 
tal^en  several  enterprises  of  importance,  such  as  The 
Twentieth  Century  Enterprise  and  the  Indian  Christian 
Industrial  Exhibition.  It  discusses,  with  much  sanity, 
the  most  serious  problems  of  the  community  and 
creates  a  worthy  sentiment  which  will  increasingly 
spread  until  it  reaches  the  remotest  parts  of  the  country. 

All  this  tends  to  show  that  the  community  is  grow- 
ing conscious  both  of  its  strength,  its  responsibility 
and  its  opportunity. 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     325 

For  the  furtherance  of  this  purpose  weekly  and 
monthly  magazines,  both  in  the  English  language 
and  in  the  vernaculars,  are  being  conducted  by  them. 
The  Christian  Patriot,  the  best  organ  of  the  com- 
munity, is  published  in  Madras,  is  conducted  with 
much  ability  and  represents  the  best  sentiments  of  its 
constituents.  It  has  done  much  to  develop  the  con- 
sciousness of  life  and  power  in  the  community  and 
has  always  urged  worthy  ideals  upon  its  readers. 

The  seriousness  with  which  all  the  native  Chris- 
tians of  India  regard  their  calling  and  the  gratitude 
with  which  they  enjoy  their  faith  is  clearly  attested 
by  their  offerings. 

Perhaps  nothing  can  render  more  satisfactory  reply 
to  those  who  charge  the  native  Christians  with 
worldly  motives  than  to  show  how  far  they  deny 
themselves  in  behalf  of  their  faith.  In  other  words 
the  benevolence  and  offerings  of  the  native  Chris- 
tians may  be  taken  as  a  fair  test  of  their  sincerity 
and  of  their  spiritual  appreciation.  It  is  a  good  test  in 
any  land.  I  have  said  that  they  are  very  poor.  A  few 
years  ago  I  investigated  carefully  the  economic  condi- 
tions of  the  most  prosperous  and  largest  village  con- 
gregation of  the  Madura  Mission.  I  discovered  that 
five  rupees  (that  is  $1.66)  was  the  average  monthly  in- 
come of  each  family  of  that  congregation.  And  that 
meant  only  thirty-three  cents  a  month  for  the  sup- 
port of  each  member  of  a  family!  We  have  congre- 
gations whose  income  is  less  than  this.  And  yet,  the 
Christians  of  that  mission  contributed  over  two  rupees 
(seventy-five  cents)  per  church  member  as  their  offer- 
ing for  1900.  For  all  the  Protestant  Missions  of  South 
India  the  average  offering  per  church  member  during 


326         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

1900  was  one  rupee  and  nine  annas  (fifty-two  cents). 
For  South  India  this  represented  an  aggregate  sum  of 
R  248,852  ($83,000)  or  about  seven  and  one-half  per 
cent,  of  the  total  sum  expended  in  the  missions  during 
that  year.  An  American  can  easily  realize  how  much 
this  offering  is  as  an  absolute  gift;  but  he  cannot  re- 
alize how  much  of  self-denial  it  means  to  that  very 
poor  people;  nor  how  large  an  offering  it  is  as  re- 
lated to  the  best  offerings  of  our  home  churches  to- 
day. If  our  American  Christians  contributed  for  the 
cause  of  Christ  a  percentage  of  their  income  equal  to 
that  of  the  native  Christians  of  India  they  would  quad- 
ruple their  benevolence.  And  if,  in  relation  to  their 
income,  the  Christians  of  India  contribute  four  times 
as  much  as  the  Christians  of  America,  in  relation  to 
their  real  ability,  after  supplying  the  most  primitive 
needs  of  their  bodies,  they  contribute  a  hundred  times 
more  than  do  their  brothers  and  sisters  in  this  great 
land  of  luxury  and  abundance.  Who  in  America,  to- 
day, in  contributing  to  the  cause  of  Christ,  denies 
himself  a  convenience  or  a  comfort;  yea  more,  who 
on  that  account  fails  to  meet  the  craving  of  bodily 
appetite  }  And  yet  there  are  many  Christians  in  India 
who  suffer  in  both  these  respects  in  order  that  they 
may  add  the  widow's  mite  to  the  treasury  of  the 
Church  and  their  loving  offering  to  advance  the  King- 
dom of  the  Lord. 

In  this  way  the  infant  Christian  Church  of  India,  in 
its  poverty  of  this  world's  goods,  is  revealing  a  wealth 
of  spirit  and  a  richness  of  purpose  such  as  are  worthy 
of  emulation  in  Christian  lands  today. 

The  organized  effort  of  the  Indian  Church  for  self- 
extension  is  rapidly  multiplying.     Every  endeavour 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     327 

is  put  forth  to  train  them  out  of  that  spirit  of  depend- 
ence which  is  one  of  the  necessary  evils  incident  to 
modern  missions. 

In  nearly  all  well  organized  missions  in  India  are 
found,  as  we  have  already  seen,  Home  Missionary 
Societies,  which  are  conducted  and  maintained  by  the 
people,  and  which  constantly  direct  their  thoughts  to 
their  privilege  to  further  the  cause  of  Christ  in  their 
own  land  and  among  their  own  people. 

Work  by  the  young  for  the  young,  also,  is  being 
conducted  with  increasing  prevalence,  zeal  and  suc- 
cess throughout  the  land. 

Indeed,  all  departments  of  a  healthful,  normal  life 
and  activity  are  vigorously  prosecuted  on  mission  ter- 
ritory with  a  view  to  imparting  to  the  Christians,  not 
only  a  knowledge  of  the  highest  type  of  Christian 
altruism,  but  also  for  the  purpose  of  making  them 
partakers  of  the  same. 

And  the  Indian  Christian  community  at  present, 
notwithstanding  all  its  faults  and  weaknesses,  which 
I  would  not  conceal,  furnishes  us  much  encourage- 
ment as  a  product  of  past  effort  and  as  a  growing 
power  which  is  to  be  used  by  God  in  the  speedy  up- 
building of  his  Kingdom  in  that  great  land  of  the 
East. 

There  are,  indeed,  not  many  forms  of  organized 
Christian  activity  conducted  by  Indian  Christians 
themselves — apart  from  Western  missions.  There 
are  some,  however,  which  are  worthy  of-  note  and 
commendation.  Such  are  Pandita  Ramabai's  Mukti 
Mission  for  Widows;  Miss  Chuckerbutty's  flourish- 
ing Orphanages;  Mrs.  Sorabji's  High  School  for 
Women;  the  Gopalgange  Mission  started  by  the  Rev. 


328 


INDIA'S  PROBLEM 


M.  N.  Bose,  and  Dr.  P.  B.  Keskar's  Orphanage  and 
Industrial  School  at  Sholapur. 

Recently  a  novel  enterprise  was  inaugurated  in  the 
American  Mission,  Jaffna,  Ceylon,  in  the  form  of  a 
Foreign  Missionary  Society,  which  sends  forth,  to  a 
region  in  Southern  India,  its  missionaries  to  carry  the 
gospel  of  Christ  to  the  non-Christians  of  that  place. 
It  is  chiefly  conducted  and  supported  by  the  young 
people  of  the  mission  and  is  prophetic  of  a  movement 
which  will,  ere  long,  spring  up  throughout  India  as 
a  result  of  a  growing  sense  of  responsibility  and  op- 
portunity among  the  Christians  of  that  land. 

It  is  with  no  spirit  of  boasting  that  I  wish  to  dwell 
upon  the  share  which  America  has  had  in  producing 
these  results.  Other  people  have  done  in  some  re- 
spects, better  than  we.  But  there  is  no  doubt  that 
India  is  much  influenced  by  our  land.  America  has, 
for  a  century,  lavishly  given  her  sons  and  daughters 
and  expended  her  wealth  for  the  salvation  of  India. 
Her  sacrifices  have  not  been  in  vain.  None  have 
found  more  hearty  response  among  that  people  than 
the  American  Missions.  Among  the  many  Protestant 
Missions  now  at  work  in  that  Peninsula  less  than  one- 
fourth  are  American;  and,  yet  in  connection  with 
these  missions  have  been  gathered  and  are  found 
nearly  one-half  of  all  of  the  Protestant  Christians  of 
that  land.  In  South  India  the  mission  which  has 
found  much  the  largest  success  in  gathering  converts 
is  an  American  Mission.  In  North  India,  again,  one 
of  our  missions  stands  preeminent  in  the  multitude 
of  its  Christians,  and  another,  in  the  excellence  of  its 
educational  power  and  leavening  influence.  In  West- 
ern India,  also,  America  stands  first  in  the  acknowl- 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     329 

edged  power  and  preeminence  of  one  of  its  mis- 
sions. 

In  the  organized  movements  for  the  young,  Amer- 
ica again  stands  conspicuous  in  that  land.  As  we 
study  the  wonderful  activity  exercised  by  Protestant 
Christianity  in  behalf  of  India's  youth,  we  are  at  once 
impressed  by  the  leadership  of  American  workers  as 
we  are  by  the  American  methods  used. 

The  finest  Y.  M.  C.  A.  building  in  the  Orient  is 
mostly  American,  both  in  conception  and  in  the  or- 
ganized energy  and  princely  offering  which  made  it 
possible.  It  stands  today  in  the  city  of  Madras,  as 
one  of  the  noblest  and  the  most  beautiful  tributes  of 
western  Christian  enterprise  to  that  great  land. 

The  only  theological  seminary  which  has  been 
adequately  endowed  for  the  training  of  Protestant 
Christian  workers  in  India,  is  an  American  one. 

Perhaps  the  best,  because  the  most  sane  and  enter- 
prising. Christian  weekly  newspaper  in  the  land  is 
American. 

The  only  Quarterly  Review  conducted  in  that  land 
by  Protestant  Christians  was  founded  by  an  American. 

And,  in  the  same  line,  it  is  interesting  to  note  that 
American  presses  and  publishing  houses  are  multi- 
plying and  are  exercising  an  ever-widening  influence 
in  the  redemption  of  that  country. 

So  largely  have  all  these  American  agencies  been 
used  for  the  furtherance  of  Christian  truth  and  light; 
and  so  much  have  they  been  welcomed  and  appro- 
priated by  the  people,  that  it  may  well  be  spoken  of 
as  **  an  American  Invasion." 

The  Bishop  of  Newcastle,  England,  referred  to  this 
in  his  last  annual  sermon.     "  So  far,"  he  says,  "  has 


330         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

America  realized  the  need  of  winning  India  to  Christ 
that  a  hundred  years  hence,  if  the  last  thirty  years' 
proportion  continue,  India  will  owe  its  Christianity 
more  to  America  than  to  Great  Britain  and  Ireland 
combined."  These  words  are  no  less  significant  in 
their  truthfulness  than  generous  in  their  appreciation. 
England  has  been  entrusted  with  the  work  of  leading 
that  great  people  of  the  Orient,  politically  and  socially, 
into  a  larger  and  higher  life.  This,  by  a  strange 
Providence,  has  been  entrusted  to  her  in  consequence 
of  her  conquest  of  that  people  seven  thousand  miles 
away  and  seven  times  her  own  population.  So  also 
has  America  been  favoured  with  a  fair  share  of  op- 
portunity and  of  influence  as  the  moral  supporter  of 
England  in  this  unique  and  unprecedented  work. 
And,  while  England  by  the  nature  of  her  compact, 
or  conquest,  is  somewhat  handicapped  in  this  task, 
so  far  as  her  religious  influence  upon  the  people  is 
concerned,  America  has  free  access  and  ample 
entrance  into  the  heart  of  the  community  because  of 
her  disinterested  and  unrestrained  relationship  to 
them. 

Her  voice  to  India  has  always  been  the  voice  of  a 
constraining  altruism.  All  her  endeavours  in  that  land 
have  been  the  outgoings  of  a  world-wide  philan- 
thropy and  of  Christian  self-denial.  Therefore,  she 
has  been  free  and  unencumbered  in  all  her  ambi- 
tions for  the  uplifting  of  that  people;  and  she  has 
found  the  heartiest  response  and  warmest  apprecia- 
tion from  those  whom  she  has  sought  to  bless. 
Consequently,  that  noble  band  of  i,oooof  her  sons 
and  daughters,  who  are  today  giving  themselves  to 
the  salvation  of  India;  and  the  one  million  dollars 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     331 

sent  forth  annually  to  maintain  her  work  in  that  land, 
are  fruitful  in  the  highest  good  and  in  the  richest  re- 
sult in  all  parts  of  the  land. 

While  all  this  means  a  great  achievement,  it 
means  also,  and  preeminently,  a  stirring  opportu- 
nity. The  widest  door  of  opportunity  is  open  to 
America  among  her  antipodes  in  that  historic  land. 
Christian  effort  can  nowhere  else  find  heartier  wel- 
come or  results  more  encouraging  and  telling  in  the 
great  gathering  of  eastern  nations  into  the  Kingdom 
of  our  Lord. 


XI 

MISSION AR  Y  RESULTS— (Continued) 
^.    The  Leaven  of  Christianity. 

OUR  Lord  compared  his  Kingdom  to  the 
mustard  seed  which  grew  into  a  tree.  This 
wonderful  growth  and  development  of  his 
Kingdom  we  considered  in  the  last  chapter.  He  com- 
pared it  also  to  the  leaven  which  was  placed  in  the 
meal  and  which  leavened  the  whole  lump.  We  shall 
now  consider  the  leavening  or  assimilating  work  of 
his  Kingdom  as  at  present  witnessed  in  India. 

If  a  man  were  to  ask  me,  **  wherein  do  you  find 
the  most  encouragement  as  a  Christian  worker  in 
India?"  I  would  doubtless  reply: — not  in  the 
Church  and  community  gathered  by  the  missions, 
but  outside  of  the  Christian  fold,  in  the  institutions, 
and  among  the  non-Christians,  of  the  land.  It  is  not 
in  the  fields  already  harvested  (though  much  of  joy 
and  promise  we  certainly  find  there),  but  in  the  fields 
whitening  for  the  harvest,  that  we  see  the  largest 
hope  for  the  ultimate  conquest  of  that  great  people 
by  Christ. 

There  are  in  India,  at  present,  a  thousand  results, 
movements  and  tendencies  which,  to  the  thoughtful, 
watchful,  Christian  worker,  bespeak  the  rapid  com- 
ing of  the  Kingdom  of  Christ,  even  though  their 
testimony   is  not  heard  through  mission  statistical 

332 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     333 

tables,  and  though  their  activity  is  found  mostly  out- 
side the  visible  pale  of  the  Church. 

1  appreciate  the  fact  that,  when  we  begin  to  con- 
sider these  results  which  lie  outside  the  life  and 
organization  of  the  Christian  community,  we  need 
much  discernment  and  discrimination,  lest  we  ascribe 
to  Christianity  alone  an  influence  and  an  efficiency 
which  it  only  shares  with  Western  thought  and 
civilization.  But  it  is  not  only  impossible  to  separate 
these  forces,  in  our  endeavour  to  estimate  the  share  of 
each  in  the  results  achieved;  western  thought  and 
civilization,  both  in  their  origin  and  development,  are 
themselves  as  much  the  product  as  they  are  the  ex- 
pression of  Christianity;  so  that  we  need  not  hesitate 
much  in  ascribing  to  our  faith  all  the  results  which 
the  combined  energy  of  these  have  produced  in  that 
land. 

Another  discrimination  is  here  necessary.  In  the 
last  chapter  we  dwelt,  almost  exclusively,  upon 
Protestant  missionary  activity  and  results.  These 
we  were  able  to  measure  chiefly  through  the  concen- 
trated activity  and  published  statistical  reports  of 
Protestant  Missions.  But,  in  considering  the  more 
indirect  and  general  results  there  achieved  we  must 
not  forget  that  they  must  be  ascribed  to  all  the 
Christian  agencies  at  work  in  that  land.  I  believe 
that  Protestant  Christianity  is  much  the  largest  Chris- 
tian power  among  all  the  forces  that  make  for  the 
redemption  of  India.  And  yet  it  would  be  presump- 
tuous and  unjust  not  to  recognize  the  strenuous 
activity  and  pervasive  influence  of  Roman  Catholicism 
in  the  land.  I  am  convinced  that  that  great  historic 
Church,  with  all  its  errors  and  false  methods,   is 


334         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

nevertheless  a  positive  and  a  mighty  power  in  the 
dissemination  of  Christian  thought  and  principles  in 
India.  In  the  results  which  I  am  about  to  mention, 
this  and  all  other  Christian  agencies  have  had  their 
share. 

Some  of  these  activities,  indeed,  seem  to  come  di- 
rectly from  none  of  the  organized  agencies  of  Chris- 
tianity in  the  land.  But  they  are  only  apparently  so. 
They  are  among  the  thousand  subtle  influences  which 
work  in  a  quiet  way  in  the  minds  and  life  of  the 
people  and  which  suddenly,  from  time  to  time,  break 
upon  our  sight  through  their  results.  An  illustration 
of  this  kind  occurred  not  long  ago.  It  is  said  that 
one  of  the  vernacular  versions  of  the  Gospels  acci- 
dentally fell  into  the  hands  of  a  Mohammedan 
Moulvi,  or  teacher,  in  North  India.  It  had  been  pre- 
pared and  published  by  the  Bible  Society.  The  Mus- 
sulman read  the  book  with  eagerness,  chiefly  with  a 
view  to  find  new  arguments  against  the  divinity  of 
our  Lord  and  the  heavenly  source  of  our  faith.  But, 
as  he  read,  he  was  so  impressed  with  the  wonderful 
narrative  and  the  unique  beauty  of  the  character  of 
our  Lord,  that  he  surrendered  himself  to  him  as  his 
Saviour  and  found  in  him  peace  and  rest.  Some- 
time later  he  met  a  Hindu  fakir,  named  Chet  Ram, 
who  was  earnestly  in  search  of  the  truth.  The  Mo- 
hammedan convert  joyfully  told  him  of  his  newly 
found  Saviour  and  gave  him  his  copy  of  the  New 
Testament  that  he  might  find  for  himself  the  same 
blessing.  The  Holy  Spirit  carried  the  Gospel  mes- 
sage of  life  into  his  heart  also,  and  he  accepted  Christ 
and  at  once  began  to  preach  him  unto  his  friends  and 
neighbours.     This  work  he  performed  faithfully;  and 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     335 

he  gathered  around  himself  many  who  accepted  his 
following,  short  creed; — "I  believe  in  Jesus  Christ 
the  Son  of  Mary  and  in  the  Holy  Ghost  and  in  the 
Father  to  whom  prayer  should  be  made  and  in  the 
Bible  through  which  salvation  is  to  be  received." 
Chet  Ram  died  some  time  ago;  but  there  are  today 
found,  scattered  through  the  villages  of  North  India, 
thousands  of  his  followers  who  subscribed  to  his 
brief  creed  and  who  always  carry  upon  their  persons 
a  copy  of  the  Scriptures.  So  far  as  I  know,  these 
people  have  never  come  into  contact  with  Christian 
workers,  but  have  been  led  simply  through  a  study 
of  God's  Word,  under  the  guidance  of  God's  Spirit, 
unto  Christ  the  Saviour  of  the  world. 

It  is  one  of  the  most  encouraging  facts  connected 
with  Christian  influence  in  India  that  one  so  often 
and  unexpectedly  meets  its  manifestations  in  individ- 
ual life  and  institutions.  Suddenly  he  comes  across 
little  streams  of  influence  whose  source  may  be  un- 
known, but  which  do  a  great  deal  towards  fertilizing 
thought  and  producing  a  harvest  of  religious  results 
throughout  the  land. 

The  general  subject  of  the  influence  of  the  West 
upon  the  East  has  been  recently  raised  in  the  very  in- 
teresting and  thought-provoking  book  on  ''  Asia  and 
Europe"  by  the  English  writer,  Meredith  Townsend. 
He  stiffly  maintains  that  the  West  never  has,  and, 
probably,  never  will,  seriously  and  permanently  in- 
fluence the  East  in  thought  and  life.  While  there  is 
a  semblance,  yea  an  element,  of  truth  in  his  conten- 
tion, so  far  as  the  past  is  concerned,  it  fails  to  apply 
to  the  India  of  the  present  and  must  fall  far  wide  of 
the  mark  in  the  future.     Many  years  have  elapsed 


336         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

since  the  author  of  "Asia  and  Europe"  left  hidia; 
and  he  is  not  conversant,  at  first  hand,  with  the 
mighty  revolution  which  is  taking  place  there  at  pres- 
ent. He  fails,  for  one  thing,  to  appreciate  the  won- 
derful influence  of  modern  scientific  discovery  as  a 
unifier  of  all  peoples  and  as  the  handmaid  of  western 
life  and  thought  and  of  Christian  conquest.  I  need 
refer  only  to  one  of  these  modern  agencies — the 
telegraph.  The  election  of  Mr.  McKinley  as  presi- 
dent of  the  United  States  was  known  to  me  in  India 
before  it  was  known  to  nine-tenths  of  the  population 
of  this  land. 

The  calamity  which  recently  befell  Galveston, 
Texas,  was  not  only  known  to  Hindus,  the  very  next 
day;  the  price  of  cotton  went  up  in  South  India  vil- 
lages as  a  consequence  of  that  sad  event.  The  gen- 
erous offerings  recently  contributed  in  America  for 
the  famine  sufferers  in  India  were  actually  distributed 
to  them  in  food  the  next  day  after  they  were  offered! 
Can  these  things,  and  a  thousand  like  them,  which 
enter  into  the  every-day  transactions  of  East  and 
West,  have  no  permanent  influence  upon  the  rela- 
tions of  these  once  remote  but  now  neighbouring 
people  }  Isolation  has  everywhere  given  way  to  in- 
tercourse and  mutual  dependence;  and  that  means 
community  of  life  and  thought  which  produces 
fundamental  action  and  reaction. 

Under  these  new  and  marvellous  conditions  the 
former  "mental  seclusion  of  India,"  so  unduly  em- 
phasized by  Mr.  Townsend,  is  rapidly  yielding  and 
must  utterly  pass  away.  It  will,  however,  not  pass 
away  simply  because  of  the  influence  of  the  West 
upon  the  East,  but  rather  because  of  the  mutual  ac- 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     337 

tion  and  reaction  of  East  and  West.  The  East  will 
approach  the  West  because,  to  a  large  extent,  the 
West  will  have  learned  to  appreciate,  and  to  draw  in 
sympathy  towards,  the  East.  Herein  lies  the  secret 
of  the  future  oneness,  or  at  least  of  the  communion, 
of  the  two  great  hemispheres. 

India  is,  therefore,  in  this  matter,  facing  today  such 
conditions  as  never  before  existed  there;  and  these 
are  to  further  considerably  the  work  of  revolution 
which  our  religion  is  bringing  to  pass  in  that  land, 
and  which  such  pessimists  as  Mr.  Townsend  are 
wont  to  ignore. 

That  keen  philosopher  and  high  authority  upon 
India,  Sir  Alfred  Lyall,  is  right  in  his  anticipation 
when  he  claims  that  India  ''will  be  carried  swiftly 
through  phases  which  have  occupied  long  stages  in 
the  lifetime  of  other  nations." 

Considering,  then,  the  leavening  influences  and  the 
general  results  of  our  faith  in  that  land  we  shall  see 
them  in  many  institutions  and  departments  of  life. 

(a)  In  laws  which  the  government  of  India  has 
enacted  during  the  last  century. 

There  has  been  a  steady  conflict  between  the  en- 
lightened government  of  the  white  man  and  the 
inhuman  customs  of  the  people  of  that  land.  The 
Christian  sentiment  of  the  members  of  the  govern- 
ment, and  of  other  Christians  outside  of  that  circle, 
has  ever  rebelled  against  and  sought  to  put  down  the 
grossest  evils  which  obtain  there. 

And  the  fact  which  we  need  to  emphasize  here  is 
that  these  evils  have  been  directed  and  protected  by 
Hinduism  itself  and  are  an  integral  part  of  its  cere- 
rnonies  and  teachings.     Whenever  the  government 


338         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

has  sought,  by  legislation,  to  do  away  with  these 
inhuman  rites  and  customs  it  has  been  bitterly  op- 
posed by  Hinduism  and  has  been  met  by  a  general 
uprising  of  its  followers  against  what  they  have 
called  religious  interference  and  persecution.  Thus 
the  suppression  of  Thuggism  was  a  definite  attack 
upon  a  religious  institution,  for  the  Thuggs  never 
committed  a  murder,  save  as  a  part  of  their  worship 
of  the  goddess  Bhowanee  to  whose  service  they  had 
dedicated  themselves  and  to  which  the  blood  of  the  in- 
nocent traveller  (as  they  thought)  was  the  most  wel- 
come sacrifice  its  devotee  could  offer.  Hence  the 
difficulty  which  faced  the  government  in  bringing 
these  religious  murders  to  an  end. 

Suttee  was  also  regarded  as  a  high  type  of  religious 
devotion.  For  the  widow  to  immolate  herself  upon 
the  funeral  pyre  of  her  dead  husband  was  not  only 
the  supreme  test  of  wifely  devotion,  it  was  also  pre- 
eminently the  highest  religious  act  possible  to  her; 
and  it  brought  to  her  a  future  bliss  which  was  painted 
in  glowing  and  attractive  colours  by  the  sacred  books 
of  her  faith.  It  was  not  strange,  therefore,  that  the 
State  hesitated,  for  a  long  time,  to  abolish  by  law  this 
hideous  custom,  whereby  in  the  year  1817,  for  in- 
stance, two  widows  were  burned  daily  in  the  Bengal 
Presidency  alone. 

It  was  in  the  face  of  extensive  protest  and  threats 
by  orthodox  Hindus  that  the  government  abolished 
it.  **  Previous  to  1837,  150  human  sacrifices  are  said 
to  have  been  annually  offered  in  Gumsur,  a  city  in 
East  Central  India;  and  the  abolition  of  that  horrible 
custom  raised  such  a  storm  of  opposition  among  the 
Hindus  that  an  eight  years'  war  was  the  result.     More 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     339 

than  2,000  victims  were  rescued  from  sacrifice  and 
handed  over  to  the  care  of  the  missionaries."  In  like 
manner  infanticide  was  encouraged  for  centuries  in 
the  land  as  an  act  of  religious  devotion  which  was 
possessed  of  great  efficacy.  In  the  name  of  religion 
and  with  the  promise  of  its  highest  blessings  mothers 
were  led  to  feed  the  crocodiles  of  the  sacred  Ganges 
by  throwing  to  them  their  own  infants. 

It  seems  hardly  possible  that  human  beings  could 
regard  the  prohibition  of  that  inhuman  and  unnatural 
act  as  a  piece  of  injustice  and  an  interference  with 
the  rights  of  conscience.     And  yet  it  was  so  regarded ! 

Not  fewer  than  twenty  laws  have  thus  been  en- 
acted in  that  land,  during  the  last  century,  with  a 
view  to  putting  an  end  to  religious  customs  which 
robbed  thousands  of  people,  annually,  of  life  itself 
and  deprived  many  thousands  more  of  the  most  ele- 
mentary and  inalienable  rights  of  human  beings.  So 
it  has  become  penal  to  do  any  one  of  the  following 
things,  all  of  which  were  regarded  as  expressions  of 
the  highest  religious  devotion  and  were  committed 
with  the  sanction  of  the  ancestral  faith  and  under  the 
inspiration  of  its  benediction:  to  burn  widows;  to 
expose  parents  to  death  on  the  banks  of  the  Ganges; 
to  offer  up  human  sacrifice;  to  murder  children, 
either  by  throwing  them  into  the  Ganges,  or  by  the 
Rajpoot  secret  method  of  infanticide;  to  encourage 
men  to  throw  away  their  lives  under  temple  cars 
and  in  other  ways  of  religious  devotion;  to  encour- 
age various  forms  of  voluntary  self-torture  and  self- 
mutilation;  to  outrage  girls  under  a  certain  age. 

How  much  hath  the  Spirit  of  Christ  wrought  in 
that  land  during  the  century  by  saving  the  lives  of 


340         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

millions  of  poor  innocent  creatures  from  the  ravages 
of  a  savage  faith  and  an  inhuman  religious  devotion! 

Thus,  in  India  today  the  laws  protect  the  people, 
old  and  young,  from  the  old  murderous  customs  of 
its  religion,  and  gives  a  sanctity  to  life  and  a  protec- 
tion to  the  innocent  and  a  check  to  the  mad,  suicidal 
tendency  of  the  religious  fanatic,  such  as  India  never 
before  knew^.  And  all  this  has  been  done  in  the 
teeth  of  their  religion  and  notwithstanding  the  per- 
sistent cries  and  protests  of  the  religious  leaders  of 
the  people. 

I  have  already  mentioned  the  fact  that  the  obscene 
and  the  impure  have  in  many  ways  been  fostered  by 
that  faith,  and  that  the  government  has  thus  far  been 
unable  to  find  courage  to  apply  to  religious  temples, 
symbols  and  rites  that  legislation  which  it  has  enacted 
against  the  obscene  in  literature  and  in  the  ordinary 
life  of  the  people.  And  yet,  we  are  encouraged  to 
find  there  this  anomaly  today, — that  men,  for  trans- 
lating and  publishing  obscene  portions  of  the  Hindu 
scriptures,  have  been  punished  in  accordance  with 
this  law.  The  day  will,  doubtless,  soon  come,  it 
must  come,  when  this  legislation  against  obscenity 
will  be  enforced  without  exception  in  favour  of  tem- 
ple cars  and  sacred  objects  and  rites. 

In  reference  to  caste  observance  the  State  has  been 
more  courageous  and  has  absolutely  ignored  class 
distinction  among  its  subjects.  No  one  who  has  not 
lived  in  the  East  can  realize  how  radical  and  impor- 
tant this  policy  is  in  that  land  of  class  distinctions 
based  upon  religious  injunction  and  revelation.  It 
seemed  absurd  and  unrighteous  to  that  people  that 
the  august  and  sacred  Brahman  and  the  unclean  and 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     341 

outcaste  Pariah  should  be  regarded  as  equal  before 
the  law,  and  that  a  pauper  should  enjoy,  with  a 
prince,  the  same  protection  and  blessings  from  the 
State.  Regardless  of  immemorial  custom  and  relig- 
ious injunction,  the  government  has  become  the  great 
leveller — it  has  ignored  entirely,  in  all  the  rights  and 
privileges  which  it  has  to  confer,  every  caste  distinc- 
tion and  class  privilege  and  disability  which  Hinduism 
had  created  and  sacredly  maintained  for  centuries. 
And  it  adheres  stiffly  to  its  Christian  principle  of  the 
equal  rights  of  all  its  subjects. 

(b)  Moreover,  Hinduism  itself  is  being  gradually 
transformed  under  the  search-light  of  a  present 
Christianity. 

Not  only  has  ft  been  compelled,  from  without,  to 
give  up  some  of  its  inhuman  practices,  it  has  also 
voluntarily,  from  very  shame,  relinquished  some  of 
its  grossest  evils. 

There  is  a  very  interesting  conflict  now  going  on 
in  Hinduism— between  the  ultra-conservatives  and 
the  progressives.  This  latter  class  is  composed  al- 
most entirely  of  men  who  have  been  educated  in 
mission  and  government  schools,  and  who  have  been 
influenced  by  Christian  light  and  life. 

I  do  not  expect  much  from  a  Christianized  Hindu- 
ism any  more  than  Ido  from  a  Hinduized  Christianity. 
And  yet  we  cannot  be  unmindful  of,  nor  ungrateful 
for,  that  growing  sense  of  shame  which  leads  that 
faith  to  conceal,  if  not  to  abandon  entirely,  some  of 
its'worst  crimes  against  man  and  to  adorn  itself  in 
such  a  way  that  it  may  not  too  violently  shock  the 
sensibilities  of  a  people  who  are  living  under  the 
growing  light  of  a  Christian  civilization. 


342         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

This  is  what  the  ancestral  faith  of  India  is  now  in- 
tent upon  doing,  at  least  so  far  as  the  changing  situ- 
ation compels.  The  influence  of  educated  Hindus 
upon  the  pundits  and  other  reUgious  guides  of  the 
land  is  increasing  annually,  and  is  steadily  in  favour  of 
religious  reform  and  of  a  broad  and  enlightened  in- 
terpretation of  Shastraic  deliverances  upon  religious 
customs.  For  example,  a  few  years  ago,  sea  voyages 
were  strictly  prohibited  to  all  Hindus.  No  exceptions 
were  allowed  and  excommunication  was  the  inevi- 
table penalty  for  the  violation  of  this  religious  injunc- 
tion. Today  hundreds  of  Hindus,  impelled  by  an 
ambition  for  the  best  education  and  for  a  broad 
culture,  annually  travel  to  England  and  to  other 
foreign  lands.  Though  some  of  those  men  are  pun- 
ished for  their  temerity  in  defying  this  sacred  in- 
junction of  their  faith,  it  is  remarkable  how  many 
pundits  arise  to  defend  such  travel  and  to  reduce 
the  opprobrium  which  overtakes  a  sea-travelled 
man.  Indeed,  every  year  adds  to  the  ease  with 
which  such  a  man  can  avoid  punishment  for  going 
abroad. 

Until  recently,  Hinduism  had  no  way  of  reinstating 
a  man  who  had  deserted  his  ancestral  faith  and  had 
thereby  broken  caste.  Today  this  subject  is  up  for 
discussion,  and  many  of  the  religious  leaders  are 
pointing  to  passages  from  their  Scriptures  which  jus- 
tify such  a  reinstatement  and  are  showing  methods 
by  which  it  can  be  effected.  In  consequence  of  this 
not  a  few  back-sliding  Christians  have  recently  found 
an  open  door  to  reenter  their  ancestral  faith.  This  is 
an  important  move;  but  1  doubt  whether  it  will  cause 
Christians  to  lose  any  converts  save  those  who  are 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     343 

not  sincere  and  who  would  therefore  be  better  outside 
than  within  the  Christian  Church. 

A  generation  ago  few  Hindus  in  the  villages  of  the 
land  would  fail  to  defend  polytheism  and  idolatry  as 
an  essential  part  of  their  faith.  At  present  the  Chris- 
tian preacher,  as  he  travels  among  these  same  people, 
finds  universal  assent  to  his  declaration  concerning 
the  unity  of  God.  I  have  hardly  met  one  villager  in 
the  land  who  maintains  today  that  there  are  really 
"gods  many."  Polytheism  is  not  defended  but  ex- 
plained away,  and  idolatry,  it  is  claimed,  is  only  an 
accommodation— a  kind  of  religious  kindergarten— 
for  the  sake  of  the  very  ignorant,  and  "for  women 
and  children."  But  of  course,  pantheism  is  the  Hin- 
du's conception  of  the  divine  unity. 

Whenever  an  educated  Hindu  defends  his  faith,  in 
an  argument  with  a  Christian,  he  never  quotes  as 
scriptural  authority  the  more  recent  writings  of  their 
faith — the  Tantras  and  Puranas,  which  are  the  store- 
house of  legend  and  myth,  of  myriad  rites  and  cus- 
toms and  are  the  refuge  and  joy  of  the  orthodox  and 
conservative  pandits; — he  discards  these  and  falls 
back  upon  the  most  ancient  writings,  which  are  the 
exponents  of  nature  worship  and  of  vedantic  philos- 
ophy. Or  he  will  extol  the  Bhagavat  Gita,  which  is 
an  eclectic  attempt  to  unify  and  approve  the  conflict- 
ing philosophies  of  Brahmanism. 

In  these,  and  in  many  other  ways,  Hinduism  finds 
today  new  presentation  and  defence.  It  is  not  the 
thing  it  used  to  be.  And  yet  in  matters  of  funda- 
mental importance  it  is  and  will  remain  unchanged. 
In  some  respects  these  changes  make  that  ancient 
faith  less  vulnerable  to  attack.     In  the  words  of  Doc- 


344         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

tor  Robson,— ''The  influence  of  Christianity  upon 
Hinduism  has  been  rather  to  strengthen  its  rival  by 
forcing  it  to  abandon  certain  positions  which  weak- 
ened it,  and  bringing  it  more  into  accordance  with 
natural  religion.  But  Hinduism  remains  the  same. 
The  contest  is  coming  to  be  between  the  ultimate 
principles  of  the  two  religions,  and  these  are  irrecon- 
cilable.^ Yes,  it  will  be  a  good  day  for  Christianity 
when  the  great  contest  is  thus  narrowed  down,  and 
when  the  deepest  teachings  of  the  two  faiths  will  be 
placed  in  clear  and  simple  juxtaposition. 

One  serious  source  of  danger  in  this  controversy 
lies  in  the  Neo-Hinduism  which  interprets  Hinduism 
in  the  light  of  Christian  truth  and  modern  thought. 
Hindus  formerly  maintained  that  the  teachings  of 
Christianity  were  false.  Now  they  tell  us  that  most 
of  its  truths  were  taught  by  their  own  faith  even  be- 
fore the  Christian  era!  Through  the  allegories  of 
their  Shastras,  and  under  the  guidance  of  the  fertile 
imagination  of  that  Englishwoman,  Mrs.  Besant,  they 
find  equally  the  best  Christian  truth  and  most  recent 
results  of  modern  scientific  discovery  taught  by  their 
ancient  scriptures!  Mrs.  Besant  has  even  discovered 
that  the  ten  incarnations  of  Vishnu  are  based  on  strict 
evolution  principles  and  follow  that  order. 

She  claims,  indeed,  that  many  of  the  most  recent 
discoveries  in  the  physical  universe  were  anticipated 
and  promulgated  three  millenniums  ago  by  Hindu 
rishis.  This  of  course  is  a  method  of  insanity  which 
will  soon  give  way  to  a  newer  craze.  For  the  pres- 
ent it  helps  to  evade  or  confuse  the  issue  in  certain 

'Hinduism  and  Christianity,  page  248. 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     345 

minds;  but  as  it  is  in  itself  a  substitution  of  nonsense 
for  argument  and  reason  it  will  not  long  deceive  any 
one,  not  even  the  poor  Hindu. 

And  just  as,  under  the  present  Christian  regime, 
Hinduism  is  rapidly  being  transformed,  no  less  truly 
does  the  Mohammedan  faith  undergo  change.  There 
is  a  new  Islam  arising  in  India.  That  faith  cannot  be 
preserved  in  its  rigid  integrity  under  the  aegis  of  a 
Christian  government;  therefore  in  India  the  faith  of 
the  great  Arabian  prophet  has  undergone  marked 
transformation  during  the  last  century  and  a  half.  Its 
religious  leaders  there  are  rationalists  who  scrutinize 
and  criticise  the  Koran  with  the  boldness  of  the 
higher  critics  of  the  Bible.  They  both  urge  that  the 
Koran  has  no  permanent  authority  on  moral  ques- 
tions, and  also  insist  upon  progress  in  all  religious 
matters.^ 

This  young  Mohammedan  party  of  progress  have 
found  a  vigorous  leader  in  Judge  Amir  Ali  Sahib,  a 
brilliant  writer,  who  hesitates  not  to  explain  away 
or  antagonize  all  those  teachings  of  his  faith 
which  lie  athwart  the  path  of  progress  and  enlighten- 
ment. 

He  avows,  in  his  book  on  ''The  Spirit  of  Islam," 
that  his  purpose  is  to  assist  "the  Muslims  of  India  to 
achieve  intellectual  and  moral  regeneration  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Great  European  Power  that  now  holds 
their  destiny  in  its  hands."  "The  reformers,"  he 
further  writes,  "  are  congratulated  that  the  movement 
set  on  foot  is  conducted  under  a  neutral  government." 
Thus  a  Mussulman  writer  declares  that  the  highest 

>  See  Dr.  Sell's  article,  "  The  New  Islam,"  in  Contemporary  Re- 
view ^  August,  1893. 


346         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

reforms  can  best  be  conducted  under  a  Christian 
government! 

All  this  is  illustrative  of  that  leavening  influence  of 
our  faith  as  it  comes  into  contact  with  and  permeates 
the  spirit  and  teaching  of  these  and  other  religions  of 
that  land. 

(^)  Another  marked  result  of  Christianity  in  that 
country  is  seen  in  the  attitude  of  many  thousands  of 
Hindus  who  live  contiguous  to  the  Christian  com- 
munities found  there. 

In  the  first  place  we  see  it  among  the  common  peo- 
ple. I  have  already  referred  to  mass  movements 
which  have  largely  helped  to  strengthen  the  Christian 
Church  in  the  past.  Those  movements  have  only 
just  begun;  they  will  continue  and  increase  in  the 
land.  Day  by  day  Christianity  is  commending  itself 
to  the  people  in  a  thousand  ways.  In  times  of  fam- 
ine, when  the  old  religious  leaders  of  the  people — the 
Brahmans — render  no  help  and  manifest  no  sympathy, 
yea  more,  are  as  rapacious  as  ever,  the  loving  sym- 
pathy of  Christians  there  and  in  far  off  lands,  and 
their  outgoing  charity  and  their  substantial  help  to  the 
famine  stricken  and  the  suffering — all  this  does  not 
fall  in  vain  upon  the  susceptible  mind  of  the  people. 

This  work  of  Christianity  in  uniting  the  world 
through  brotherhood  and  sympathy  seems  wonderful 
to  a  people  who  are  crushed  and  robbed  by  the 
wretched  divisiveness  of  their  own  terrible  caste  sys- 
tem. They  recognize  also  the  truth  and  the  life 
which  Christianity  presents  in  contrast  with  the  de- 
basing idolatry  and  the  senseless,  all-pervasive  cere- 
monialism which  haunt  them. 

It  is  not  surprising  therefore  that  we  see,  not  only 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     347 

certain  mass  movements  towards  our  faith  but  also,  on 
the  outskirts  of  the  Christian  community  in  every  dis- 
trict, a  growing  number  of  doubting,  halting  ones — 
those  who  have  done  with  their  ancestral  faith  and 
who  are  attracted  by  the  religion  of  Christ,  but  who 
are  so  much  afraid  of  the  terrible  demon,  caste,  that 
they  dare  not  openly  accept  Christ  and  unite  with 
God's  people  through  baptism.  They  linger  on  the 
outside,  hoping  for  some  great  tide  of  influence  to 
come,  soon,  to  carry  them,  without  persecution,  into 
the  kingdom.  Their  attitude  of  mind  is  encouraging, 
and  the  missionary  hopes  for  the  day  which  will  fur- 
nish the  strength  and  opportunity  for  this  great  host 
of  weak  and  doubting  ones  to  make  its  decision  for 
Christ  and  to  enter,  in  ever-increasing  numbers,  into 
His  Kingdom. 

I  have  come  into  daily,  close  touch  with  many  men 
and  women  of  this  class.  They,  at  the  same  time, 
encourage  and  exasperate  one.  They  give  evidence 
of  the  strong  influence  of  our  faith  upon  them— they 
have  ceased  to  visit  Hindu  temples,  they  decline  to 
worship  the  family  and  tribal  gods,  they  lose  no  op- 
portunity to  denounce  the  idolatry  and  superstitions 
which  have  debased  them,  and  they  always  speak  to 
their  friends  a  warm  word  for  Christianity  and  often 
attend  its  meetings  in  their  village.  But  there  they 
continue  to  stand.  They  are  the  slaves  of  caste  fear 
and  of  social  inertia.  While,  however,  they  stand 
and  wait  they  often  say  the  word  and  give  the  en- 
couragement which  enable  others  to  accept  Christ 
openly  and  to  enter  the  Christian  fold. 

They  are  also  always  glad  to  send  their  children  to 
pur  schools  and  are  willing  to  have  them  instructed 


348         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

in  the  truth  and  guided  into  the  life  of  our  faith. 
They  often  contribute  towards  the  support  of  Chris- 
tian pastor  or  teacher,  and  in  various  other  ways 
evince  their  sympathy  and  reveal  their  intellectual 
assent. 

For  instance: — In  Tinnevelly  there  is  a  hall  built  by 
such  a  Hindu  to  commemorate  the  late  Queen  Vic- 
toria, in  which  lectures  and  entertainments  are  held. 
Christian  ministers  are  frequently  asked  to  pray  at 
these  gatherings;  and  former  years  have  witnessed 
requests  by  the  donor  for  prayer,  from  well-known 
ministers  and  bishops.  Such  appreciation  of  Chris- 
tian worship  is  very  pleasing,  particularly  as  the 
proprietor  is  a  member  of  a  committee  that  has  the 
oversight  of  nearly  300  Sivite  temples  in  the  district. 

They  also  show  their  appreciation  of  the  medical 
work  of  Christian  missions.  In  the  city  of  Madura 
stands  one  of  the  finest  hospitals  in  the  country.  It 
is  the  property  of  the  American  Board,  but  was 
erected,  at  an  expense  of  $14,000  by  members  of  the 
orthodox  Hindu  community  as  a  monument  of  their 
appreciation  of  the  mission  physician  and  of  their 
confidence  in  the  mission  and  its  work. 

{d)  Another  marked  feature  of  the  religious  life 
of  India,  at  present,  is  the  existence  there  of  several 
new  cults  or  religions.  They  not  only  add  pictur- 
esqueness  to  the  religious  situation,  they  also  reveal 
the  unrest  of  the  people  and  their  desire  for  some- 
thing better  than  the  orthodox  faith  of  their  fathers 
furnishes  them. 

Having  become  dissatisfied  and  disgusted  with 
their  ancestral  religion,  they  are  striving  in  every  pos- 
sible way,  short  of  being  Christians,   to  seek   for 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     349 

something  better  and  higher.  This  is  what  we 
should  expect.  In  the  many  schools  and  colleges  of 
the  land  the  subtle  metaphysics  of  the  East  is  sup- 
planted by  the  modern  philosophy  of  the  West; 
their  own  bewildering  ancient  rules  of  logic  are  re- 
placed by  the  more  rational  processes  of  the  West. 
So  that  every  university  matriculate  and  graduate  of 
India  is  today  crammed  with  ideas,  and  trained  in 
methods  of  thinking,  which  make  a  belief  in  practical 
Hinduism  and  in  much  of  its  philosophy  an  impossi- 
bility, if  not  an  absurdity. 

Thus  we  see  in  that  land  today  a  number  of  move- 
ments and  organizations  which  are  a  protest  against 
orthodox  Hinduism  and  are  carrying  the  people,  in 
thought  and  sympathy,  from  the  past  to  the  present, 
from  the  old  to  the  new.  Most  of  these  movements 
are  merely  half-way  houses  between  Hinduism  and 
Chistianity.  They  are  with  faces  more  or  less  turned 
towards  the  light  and  possess  the  progressive  spirit 
which,  in  some  cases,  cannot  fail  of  landing  their 
members,  at  no  distant  date  in  the  Christian  fold. 
For  instance,  we  have  in  western  India  the  Prartanei 
Somaj  (prayer  society) ;  in  north  India  the  Arya  Somaj 
(Aryan  society),  and  in  Bengal  the  Brahmo  Somaj 
(society  of  God). 

These  are  healthy  movements,  away  from  a  gen- 
eral, old-fashioned  view  of  religious  things.  Take, 
for  example,  the  Brahmo  Somaj.  Though  not  as 
large  in  membership  as  the  Arya  Somaj  it  represents 
more  culture  and  power.  Nearly  all  the  members 
are  men  of  education  and  of  western  training,  and 
represent  much  more  influence  than  their  number 
(4,000)  would  suggest.     Their  new  faith  is  an  eclec- 


350         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

ticism.  It  has  adopted  a  little  of  Hinduism  and  of 
Bhuddism  and  of  Mohammedanism  and  a  great  deal 
of  Christianity.  The  movement,  especially  that  pro- 
gressive branch  which  was  under  the  leadership  of 
Protab  Chunder  Mozumdar,  is  largely  Christian  in 
drift  and  spirit.  Mozumdar  accepts  Christ,  though 
not  in  the  fullness  of  belief  in  His  divinity  or  in  His 
atoning  work;  nevertheless  with  an  amount  of  ap- 
preciation, affection,  devotion  and  loyalty  not  met 
even  among  many  Western  Christians  today.  His 
book  on  "The  Oriental  Christ"  is  full  of  appreciation 
and  reveals  a  wonderful  knowledge  of  the  eastern 
Christ  from  an  Eastern  standpoint.  I  shall  not  be 
surprised  to  see  the  members  of  this  society  landing, 
at  an  early  date,  through  a  full  confession  of  Christ, 
in  membership  of  the  Christian  Church. 

In  the  meanwhile  it  is  disappointing  to  find  this 
organization  divided,  already,  into  so  many  mutually 
antagonistic  sects.  It  is  also  a  reason  for  regret  that 
Mozumdar,  who  is  a  man  of  great  culture,  intelli- 
gence and  deep  spiritually,  has  recently  relinquished 
the  leadership  of  the  movement.  Having  retired  to 
the  Himalayas,  he  communicates  his  reasons  in  these 
truly  oriental,  pathetic  and  pessimistic  words: 

"Age  and  sickness  get  the  better  of  me  in  these 
surroundings,  I  cannot  work  as  I  would — contempla- 
tion is  distracted,  concentration  disturbed,  though  I 
struggle  ever  so  much.  These  solitudes  are  hospita- 
ble; these  breadths,  heights  and  depths  are  always 
suggestive.  I  acquire  more  spirit  with  less  struggle, 
hence  I  retire. 

"My  thirst  for  the  higher  life  is  growing  so  un- 
quenchable that  I  need  the  time  and  the  grace  to 


MISS  ION  ART  RESULTS     351 

reexamine  and  purify  and  reform  every  part  of  my 
existence.  The  Spirit  of  God  promises  me  that  grace 
if  I  am  alone.     So  let  me  alone. 

**  The  rich  are  so  vain  and  selfish,  the  poor  are  so 
insolent  and  mean,  that  having  respect  for  both  1 
prefer  to  go  away  from  them. 

''The  learned  think  so  highly  of  themselves,  the 
ignorant  are  so  full  of  hatred  and  uncharitableness, 
that  having  good  will  for  both  I  prefer  to  hide  myself 
from  all. 

"The  religious  are  so  exclusive,  the  sceptical  so  self- 
sufficient  that  it  is  better  to  be  away  from  both. 

''Where  are  the  dead  ?  Have  not  they  too  retired  ? 
I  wish  my  acquaintance  with  the  dead  should  grow, 
that  my  communion  with  them  should  be  spon- 
taneous, perpetual,  unceasing.  I  will  invoke  them 
and  wait  for  them  in  my  hermitage. 

"What  is  life?  Is  it  not  a  fleeting  shadow,  the 
graveyard  of  dead  hopes,  the  battlefield  of  ghastly 
competitions,  the  playground  of  delusions,  sepa- 
rations, cruel  changes  and  disappointments  ?  I  have 
had  enough  of  these.  And  now  with  the  kindliest 
love  for  all,  1  must  prepare  and  sanctify  myself  for 
the  great  Beyond,  where  there  is  solution  for  so 
many  problems,  and  consolation  for  so  many  troub- 
les.    ..." 

This  seems  an  unworthy  ending  to  a  very  worthy 
life.  And  yet  a  movement  which  has  created  two 
such  men  as  Chunder  Sen  and  Protab  Mozumdar  is  a 
compliment  to  Christianity  and  has  a  mission  before 
it.  But  it  must  undergo  many  changes  ere  it  can  ex- 
ercise a  commanding  influence  in  the  land. 

A    much    more   popular  movement  is  the  Arya 


352 


INDIA'S  PROBLEM 


Somaj.  The  recent  census  reports  40,000  members 
of  this  organization.  If  Brahmo  Somaj  represents  the 
working  of  that  Hindu  mind  which  has  been  imbued 
with  European  culture  and  Christian  thought  towards 
a  solution  of  its  religious  doubts  and  problems;  the 
Arya  Somaj  represents  a  strong  Theistic  movement 
springing  forth  out  of  Hinduism  itself.  This  latter 
movement  is  possessed  of  unwonted  vigour  and  has 
a  future  before  it.  The  founder  of  this  Somaj  was 
Dyanand  Sarasvati,  a  Brahman  who  was  born  about 
the  year  1825.  He  was  a  man  of  much  thought  and 
of  deep  religious  interest.  He  was  entirely  ignorant 
of  the  English  language.  He  broke  with  orthodox 
Hinduism  after  reading  the  Christian  Scriptures. 
And  yet  he  also  attacked  the  character  of  Jesus.  He 
accepted  the  Hindu  Vedas  as  Scriptures,  but  in- 
terpreted them  so  freely  that  he  was  able  to  find  in 
them  all  that  he  desired  of  religious  reform.  He 
vigorously  opposed  caste. 

The  following  are  some  of  the  principles  of  the 
Arya  Somaj : 

1 .  God  is  the  primary  source  of  all  true  knowledge. 

2.  God  is  perfect  in  all  His  attributes  and  should 
be  worshipped. 

3.  The  Vedas  are  the  books  of  true  knowledge. 

4.  The  caste  system  is  a  human  invention  and  is 
evil. 

5.  Early  marriage  is  prohibited. 

The  movement  has  assumed  the  aspect  of  a  sect  of 
Hinduism.  But  some  of  its  fundamental  contentions 
are  so  directly  antagonistic  to  most  cherished  institu- 
tions of  Hinduism  that  it  is  a  mighty  disintegrator  of 
that  religion  in  the  land. 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     353 

It  must  be  confessed  that  the  Arya  Somaj  is,  in  its 
present  spirit,  anti-Christian.  It  champions  the  cause 
of  home  religion  in  the  East  as  against  the  aggression 
of  the  great  rival,  Christianity.  But  the  teachers  of 
our  faith  in  India  find  encouragement  equally  in  the 
hostility  of  this  movement  and  in  its  cooperation  in  a 
common  attack  upon  modern  Hinduism.  Any  move- 
ment, that  effectively  calls  the  attention  of  the  people 
to  the  weakness  and  defects  of  its  ancestral  religion, 
cannot  fail,  in  that  very  process,  to  invite  their  atten- 
tion to  the  claims  of  its  rival,  Christianity. 

The  chief  function  of  all  these  movements  is  to 
reveal  the  general  religious  interest  of  the  people. 
Indeed,  they  forward  greatly  the  spirit  of  discontent 
towards  the  ancestral  faith.  And  while  they  do  this, 
they  themselves  furnish  a  no  more  satisfying  or  soul- 
inspiring  substitute.  And  in  this  way  they  emphasize 
the  need  of  a  new  faith  and  draw  the  thought  of 
many  to  the  new  supplanting  religion  of  the  Christ. 
Chunder  Sen,  even  twenty  years  ago,  declared  that, 
^'None  but  Jesus,  none  but  Jesus,  none  but  Jesus  is 
worthy  to  wear  this  diadem,  India,  and  He  shall 
have  it."  Yes,  even  through  such  movements  as 
the  Brahmo  Somaj,  Christ  is  winning  India  for  him- 
self. 

The  educated  classes  of  India  are  largely  permeated 
and  influenced  by  Western  thought.  They  may  not 
be  inclined  to  join  any  of  the  reform  movements 
which  I  have  mentioned;  but  they  are  now  thinking 
on  absolutely  different  lines  from  those  of  their  an- 
cestors fifty  years  ago.  The  dissemination  of  West- 
ern literature,  and  especially  the  conduct  of  so  many 
Christian  schools  have  done  more,  perhaps,  than  any 


354         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

other  thing  to  create  an  intellectual  ferment  and  to 
produce  a  revolution  of  thought  in  all  parts  of  the 
land. 

One  cannot  unduly  emphasize  the  importance  of 
Christian  schools  in  India.  The  government  schools 
and  the  Hindu  institutions  of  learning  are  acknow^l- 
edged  to  be  the  hot-beds  of  rationalism  and  of  unbelief. 
They  not  only  furnish  no  religious  instruction  to  the 
youth,  they  too  often  give  the  impression  that  all  re- 
ligion is  a  mere  superstition  and  is  unworthy  of  being 
taught. 

To  such  an  extent  is  this  trend  and  influence  ob- 
servable that  the  government  experiences  much  con- 
cern, coupled  with  an  expressed,  though  vague, 
desire,  that  this  evil  be  arrested  by  the  introduction, 
into  all  public  schools,  of  some  method  of  imparting 
at  least  the  fundamental  principles  of  religion.  But 
to  discover  the  method  of  accomplishing  this,  with- 
out violating  the  principle  of  religious  neutrality, 
seems  beyond  its  power. 

In  the  meanwhile  mission  schools  have  a  grand 
sphere  opened  to  them  on  this  line.  They  are  not 
only  a  common  agency,  with  governmental  and  all 
other  higher  institutions,  in  the  work  of  undermining 
and  destroying  vain  credulity  and  the  whole  brood  of 
superstitions  which  are  legion  in  India;  they  are  also 
a  positive  and  constructive  force  in  the  impartation  of 
those  principles  of  morality  and  teachings  of  religion 
which  will  ennoble  life  here  and  hereafter.  And  in 
this  connection  it  should  not  be  forgotten  that  all 
mission  schools — higher  and  lower — enjoy  unlimited 
opportunity  to  teach,  daily,  to  all  their  students  God's 
Word  and  to  apply  its  principles  and  its  saving  mes- 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     355 

sage  to  the  minds  of  the  half  million  students  who 
are  being  trained  by  them. 

I  desire  to  emphasize  again  the  importance  of  all 
these  schools  as  the  most  potent  agency,  apart  from 
the  native  Church  itself,  in  the  transformation  of  the 
thought  and  life  of  India.  It  is  a  noteworthy  fact 
that  the  only  statue  erected  to  a  missionary  in  India 
was  that  recently  unveiled  by  the  Governor  of  Madras 
in  the  city  of  Madras  to  Dr.  Wm.  Miller.  This  noble 
missionary  educator  has  wrought  mightily,  through 
his  great  institution  in  Madras,  for  the  upbuilding  of 
Christian  truth  in  the  minds  of  Christian  and  non- 
Christian  youth  alike.  And  this  statue  is  a  unique 
tribute  of  gratitude  from  his  **  old  boys"— most  of 
them  still  Hindus,  indeed— to  the  man  who  has  been 
instrumental  in  opening  before  them  the  broad  vistas 
of  Western  thought  and  of  Christian  truth  and  life. 
But  more  enduring  than  marble  will  abide  the  blessed 
results  which  he  and  his  colabourers  have  wrought 
in  the  thought  and  life  of  the  more  than  2,000  gradu- 
ates who  have  been  educated  by  them.  Of  these  there 
are  1,800  who  represent  the  Hindus  of  thought  and 
culture  in  South  India  at  present.  Such  is  the  influ- 
ence of  one  Christian  school. 

If  the  work  of  the  thousands  of  village  Christian 
schools  is  more  humble  in  its  aim  it  is  much  more 
pervasive  in  its  reach,  and  it  marvellously  directs 
thought  and  inspires  life  in  remote  villages. 

Twelve  years  ago  I  opened  one  little  primary  school 
in  a  small  unlettered  heathen  village.  Ten  bright 
Hindu  boys  sought  instruction  at  the  hands  of  the 
devout  old  Christian  teacher  placed  there.  Today 
these  boys  have  grown  into  manhood  and,  with  one 


356         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

or  two  exceptions,  have  entered  into  the  Christian 
life  and  have  been  formed  into  a  Christian  congrega- 
tion. They  are  not  only  intelligent,  but  firm  and 
beautiful  in  their  new-found  Christian  hope.  More- 
over, the  whole  village  is  permeated  with  Christian 
truth  and  it  resounds  with  the  appeal  of  our  faith.  In 
this  way  have  come  into  existence  many  of  the  best 
and  strongest  congregations  of  the  Christian  Church 
in  India. 

But,  to  return  to  the  educated  class  in  India.  We 
have  considered  already  its  attitude  of  mind  towards 
the  supplanting  religion  of  Jesus. 

Their  opposition  to  Christianity,  as  it  is  now  pre- 
sented to  them,  I  can  appreciate.  They  are  begin- 
ning, for  the  first  time,  to  think  seriously  and  phil- 
osophically about  religion.  They  are,  more  than  ever 
before,  impatient  with  their  past,  and  annoyed  with 
the  inadequacy  of  their  present  faith.  It  is  not 
strange  if  this  feeling  is  shown  in  their  attitude  to- 
wards the  only  supplanting  faith.  In  this  matter 
they  are  on  the  way  to  light  and  truth.  The  under- 
current is  strongly  right  and  in  the  direction  of  an 
enlightened  and  an  enlightening  religion.  They  are 
more  earnestly  in  quest  of  truth  than  ever  before. 
Moreover  it  is  not  substantive  Christianity,  but  ad- 
jectival Christianity — the  too  Western  type  of  our 
faith— which  arouses  their  antagonism.  And  I  must 
again  express  my  belief  that,  before  Christianity  is 
to  gain  universal  acceptance  by  the  people  of  India, 
it  must  be  dissociated  from  many  Western  ideas  and 
practices  which  seem  to  us  essential  even  to  its  very 
life.  When  we  learn  to  forget  our  antecedents  and 
prejudices  and  to  study  well  the  Hindu  mind  and  its 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     357 

tendency,  then  perhaps  shall  we  be  prepared  to  pre- 
sent a  Christianity  which  will  commend  itself  uni- 
versally to  that  land.  The  Rev.  G.  T.  E.  Slater  in  his 
new  book,  wisely  emphasized  this  same  need. 

"The  West,"  he  says,  "has  to  learn  from  the 
East,  and  the  East  from  the  West.  The  questions 
raised  by  the  Vedanta  will  have  to  pass  into  Chris- 
tianity if  the  best  minds  of  India  are  to  embrace  it; 
and  the  Church  of  the  "farther  East"  will  doubtless 
contribute  something  to  the  thought  of  Christendom, 
of  the  science  of  the  soul  and  of  the  omnipenetra- 
tiveness  and  immanence  of  Deity."  ^ 

But  the  most  encouraging  aspect  of  this  question  is 
the  present  attitude  of  the  mind  of  educated  India 
towards  Christ  himself. 

Listen  to  the  words  of  an  orthodox  Hindu  in  a 
recent  lecture  delivered  to  his  fellow  Hindus: — "How 
can  we,"  he  says,  "  be  blind  to  the  greatness,  the  un- 
rivalled splendour  of  Jesus  Christ.  Behind  the  Brit- 
ish Empire  and  all  European  Powers  lies  the  single 
great  personality— the  greatest  of  all  known  to  us — 
of  Jesus  Christ.  He  lives  in  Europe  and  America,  in 
Asia  and  Africa  as  King  and  Guide  and  Teacher.  He 
lives  in  our  midst.  He  seeks  to  revivify  religion  in 
India.  We  owe  everything,  even  this  deep  yearning 
towards  our  own  ancient  Hinduism,  to  Christianity." 

All  former  antipathy  to,  and  depreciation  of  Jesus, 
our  Lord,  have  given  way  to  appreciation  and  ad- 
miration. They  vie  with  each  other  in  a  study  of  His 
life  and  regard  Him  as  the  only  perfect  Exemplar  of 

^  "The  Higher  Hinduism  in  Relation  to  Christianity,"  page  291. 
This  valuable  book  has  only  just  been  published  after  my  manuscript 
was  written. 


358         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

man.  That  great  land  which  has  never  found  in  its 
old  faith  an  ideal  of  life  is  now  finding  it  in  our 
blessed  Lord.  This  movement  towards  Him  is  re- 
markable. They  are  enthroning  Him  in  their  imag- 
ination and  are  drawing  Him  to  their  hearts. 

A  Braham  friend  of  mine — a  devout  Hindu,  a  uni- 
versity graduate,  a  barrister  and  a  leader  of  the  Hindu 
community,  requested  me  to  purchase  for  him  a 
pocket  copy  of  Thomas  a  Kempis'  **  Imitation  of 
Christ."  He  possessed  a  large  copy,  but  desired  a 
small  one  which  he  could  carry  with  him  and  could 
use  for  devotional  purposes  on  his  journeys.  Some 
of  his  friends  sought  other  copies  through  him. 
Thus  they  bought  all  the  copies  that  1  could  find  for 
sale  in  South  India.  He  also  asked  me  to  buy  for  him 
a  copy  of  Dr.  Sheldon's  book,  ''In  His  Steps." 

I  bought  four  dozen  copies  and  sold  all  to  Brah- 
mans  and  to  native  Christians.  One  of  our  pastors 
bought  a  copy.  He  soon  handed  it  to  a  Brahman 
friend — a  government  official  and  a  university  gradu- 
ate— requesting  him  to  read  it.  This  he  did,  and, 
returning  with  the  book  a  few  days  later,  he  earnestly 
said— "Sir,  why  don't  you  bring  us  more  such  books 
as  this.  We  also  want  to  know  more  of  Christ  and 
to  follow  *In  His  Steps.'" 

Indeed,  I  find  a  wonderful  eagerness  among  Hindus 
of  culture  to  know  all  that  can  be  known  about  the 
life  and  teaching  of  our  Lord,  even  though  they  are 
not  prepared  to  accept  his  atonement  as  their  salva- 
tion. The  same  fact  is  true  among  the  common  peo- 
ple. There  are  not  a  few  who  believe  that  the  tenth 
— that  is,  the  coming — incarnation  of  Vishnu  (Kalki 
avatar)  refers  to  Christ.     A  Hindu  Saivite  devotee 


MISSIONARr  RESULTS     359 

told  me  once  that  they  proposed  soon  to  place  in 
their  monastery  an  image  of  Christ  (as  they  had  one 
of  Vishnu)  and  thus  render  to  Him  worship  in  com- 
mon with  the  others.  I  am  confident  that  Hindus, 
all  but  unanimously,  would,  today,  vote  to  give  him 
a  place  in  their  pantheon  and  a  share  in  their  wor- 
ship, if  Christians  would  accede  to  this.  **Did  we 
not,"  they  say,  "thus  appropriate  Buddha,  the  arch- 
enemy of  Brahmanism,  twenty-five  centuries  ago, 
and  make  him  the  ninth  incarnation  of  Vishnu? 
And  why  should  we  not  regard  Christ,  also,  as  the 
tenth  'descent'  of  our  beloved  Vishnu." 

I  deem  this  trend  towards  Christ,  and  it  is  marked 
especially  among  the  educated  in  all  parts  of  India, 
as  the  greatest  encouragement  to  the  Christian  worker 
in  that  land  today. 

I  care  not  so  much  whether  they  accept  our  faith 
in  its  Western  form  and  spirit,  so  long  as  1  see  them 
growing  in  their  appreciation  of,  and  devotion  to  the 
Christ.  Through  Him  I  am  sure  they  will  pass  on  to 
some  outer  expression  or  other  of  their  faith  in  Him — 
an  expression  which  will  doubtless  correspond  with 
their  own  oriental  turn  of  thought  and  life. 

Conclusion. 

Thus,  whether  we  look  at  the  growing  Christian 
community  and  its  many  cheering  features  of  life  and 
of  activity;  or  whether  we  study  the  non-Christian 
community  and  all  the  social  and  national  institutions 
of  that  land,  we  find  large  encouragement  and  a  rich 
assurance  of  the  speedy  coming  of  the  Kingdom  of 
our  Lord. 

Nearly  a  century  ago — the  very  time  in   which 


36o         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

America,  through  the  America  Board,  sent  its  first 
missionaries  to  that  great  land — the  Directors  of  the 
East  India  Company  placed  on  record  their  sentiments 
in  the  following  words: 

"The  sending  of  Christian  missonaries  to  our 
Eastern  possessions  is  the  maddest,  most  expensive, 
most  unwarranted  project  that  was  ever  proposed  by 
a  lunatic  enthusiast."  This  was,  at  that  time,  the 
conviction  and  the  confession  of  the  English  rulers 
of  India.  It  was  the  voice  of  unbelief  and  the  dec- 
laration of  defiant  opposition.  How  different  the 
attitude  and  the  words  of  Sir  Rivers  Thompson;  the 
Lieutenant  Governor  of  Bengal,  near  the  close  of  that 
same  century.  " In  my  judgment,"  he  says,  "Chris- 
tian missionaries  have  done  more  real  and  lasting 
good  to  the  people  of  India  than  all  other  agencies 
combined."  Certainly,  a  no  more  competent  witness 
than  he,  and  a  no  more  conclusive  evidence  than  his, 
could  be  desired. 

In  my  compound  in  South  India,  for  a  quarter  of  a 
century,  a  date  palm  tree  grew  and  flourished.  Years 
later  a  seed  was  carried  by  a  bird  and  dropped  at  the 
foot  of  this  palm  tree.  It  was  the  seed  of  the  sacred 
boh  tree.  It  also  sprouted  and  its  slender,  subtle 
shoot  wound  round  the  sturdy  palm.  Every  year  it 
grew  higher  until  it  finally  towered  above  the  date 
palm;  and  the  higher  it  grew  the  more  its  winding 
stem  thickened;  and  as  it  thickened  it  began  to 
tighten  its  grip  upon  the  other  tree.  That  grip, 
so  weak  and  innocent  at  first,  soon  became  to  the 
palm  tree  a  grip  of  death.  For  every  day  so  added 
to  the  encircling  power  of  the  boh  tree  that,  about 
three  years  ago,  it  completely  enshrouded  and  killed 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     361 

the  palm.  Today  that  boh  tree  stands  alone,  indicat- 
ing, by  its  spiral  form,  where  the  unfortunate  palm 
found  its  death ;  and  it  stretches  forth  its  beautiful 
branches  in  rich  verdure  and  in  welcome  shade  to  all 
who  seek  refuge  from  the  heat  of  the  tropical  sun. 

This  is  only  a  parable  of  the  struggle  which  is  wit- 
nessed in  India  today.  For  many  centuries  the  tree 
of  Brahmanism  has  flourished.  It  covers  that  whole 
land.  But  at  its  very  root  has  been  sown  the  seed  of 
God's  Word  and  there  is  growing  out  of  it,  in  its 
beauty  and  strength,  the  sacred  tree  of  our  Faith. 
Already  it  has  the  old  tree  in  its  almighty  grip.  The 
work  of  death  is  progressing  and  the  final  issue  is 
sure. 

But  it  will  not  transpire  in  a  day.  The  victory  will 
come,  is  now  coming. 

But  the  resources  of  Hinduism  are  legion,  and  its 
strange  fascination,  to  some  extent,  continues. 
India,  which  is  increasingly  becoming  Christ's  in 
thought  and  ideals,  will  become  his  in  worship  and 
ritual,  when  his  name  shall  be  heard  in  every  home 
throughout  the  land.  But  we  need  patience;  and  the 
grand  result  to  be  achieved  is  worthy  of  the  noblest 
endurance  and  of  the  most  patient  waiting. 

Christian  workers  in  that  great  land  are  faithfully 
labouring  and  hopefully  waiting  until  the  fruitful 
branches  of  the  sacred  tree  of  Christianity  shall  have 
spread  over  the  whole  land,  so  that  its  shade  may  be 
the  refuge  of  all  souls  in  distress  and  its  fruit  shall 
abound  for  the  healing  of  all  the  nations  of  India. 

The  resources  and  the  agencies  of  our  Faith,  which 
are  now  utilized  for  the  furtherance  of  the  truth  in 
that  land,  are  already  wonderfully  varied  and  potent; 


362         INDIA'S  PROBLEM 

but  they  are  also  increasing  annually  in  prevailing 
power  as  in  bewildering  variety.  Every  Christian 
drawn  from  Hinduism  and  added  to  the  fold  of 
Christ  becomes,  in  himself,  a  force  to  draw  and  to 
win  others  to  Christ.  This  power  has  already  be- 
come the  main  agency  in  the  growth  of  the  church, 
and  its  efficiency  is  to  grow  in  geometric  ratio  as  the 
years  increase. 

The  great  need  of  India  today  is  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  of  God.  His  people  must  bring  them- 
selves much  more  into  subjection  to  his  Spirit,  that 
they  may,  the  more  fully,  be  the  vehicles  of  His 
grace  to  others  and  the  channel  of  His  power  in  the 
land.  The  dangers  of  God's  Church  are,  and  will  pre- 
eminently be,  dangers  from  within  rather  than  from 
without.  It  is  Hinduism,  godlessness  and  sin  within 
which  must  be  fought  with  an  eternal  vigilance  and 
an  uncompromising  hostility.  And  for  this  a  larger 
baptism  will  mean  a  mighty  fire  of  God  kindled  in 
the  whole  Church  such  as  will  burn  all  its  dross  and 
consume  all  opposition.  And  then  shall  we  speedily 
witness  the  great  desire  of  our  heart — a  happy,  pros- 
perous India,  because  it  will  be  Emmanuel's  land — a 
part  of  the  great  Fold  of  Christ. 

This  consummation  is  as  sure  as  God's  own 
promises,  for,  in  all  his  work,  the  missionary  is  not 
only  encouraged  by  results  achieved  and  by  assur- 
ances given,  but  also  by  the  double  promise  of  God. 
First  he  has  the  promise  of  the  Father  to  the  Son: 

"  Ask  of  me  and  1  will  give  to  thee  the  heathen  for 
thine  inheritance  and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth 
for  thy  possession."  The  Son  has  asked  and  is  seek- 
ing the  possession  of  the  earth;  and  in  the  confidence 


MISSIONART  RESULTS     363 

of  his  assurance  he  exclaims,  "All  authority  is  given 
unto  me  in  heaven  and  in  earth."  And,  to  his  wait- 
ing disciples,  he  adds,  "Go  ye  therefore  and  make 
disciples  of  all  nations."  And  with  this  all-embrac- 
ing command  he  coupled  the  all-satisfying  promise, 
"  Lo,  I  am  with  you  always,  even  unto  the  end  of  the 
world."    Amen. 


Appendix 


I.  Statement  comparing  the  growth  of  the  Native  Christian  com- 
munity as  compared  with  that  of  adherents  of  other  religions  from 
Government  Census. 


Religions. 


Native  Christian, 


Hindu, 

Musalman,      ..... 

Buddhist, 

Animistic, 

Christian,  1       

Sikh, 

Jain, 

Zoroastrian  (Parsee),    . 

Jewish, 

Minor  and  Unspecified, 

Total, 


India  and  Burma. 


1891 


1901 


2,036,590 


207,731,727 

57,321,164 

7,131,361 

9,280,467 

2,284,380 

1,907,833 

1,416,638 

89,904 

17,194 

42,763 


2,664,313 


207,147,026 

62,458,077 

9,476,759 

8,584,148 

2,923,241 

2,195,339 

1,334,148 

94,190 

18,228 

129,900 


287,223,431  294,361,056  +7,137,625 


Gain  or 
Loss. 


+627,723 


—584,701 
+5,136,913 
+2,345,398 

—696,319 

+638,861 

+287,506 

—82,490 

+4,286 

+1,034 

+87,137 


^  Native  Christians  included. 


36r 


368 


Appendix 


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Appendix 


371 


III — A   Missionary   Table   of  Summaries  for 
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*  Not  returned.  t  Returns  incomplete. 

1.  During  the  last  decade  one-tenth  of  the  Native  pupils  of  recognized  schools 
in  India  were  in  Protestant  Missionary  Institutions. 

2.  One-tenth  of  the  Matriculates,  one-fifth  of  the  First  in  Arts  graduates,  one- 
fourth  of  Bachelors  in  Arts  and  one-sixth  of  the  Masters  in  Art  appeared  from 
Protestant  Missionary  Institutions. 

3.  Of  all  boys  who  study  in  lower  schools  in  India  5  per  cent,  and  of  all  girls 
25  per  cent,  are  in  Protestant  Missionary  Schools. 


372 


Appendix 


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e2 

V. — Statistics  of  Bible,  Tract  and  Christian 
Literature  Societies  for  the  Year  1900. 


Name  of  Society. 

No. 

Proceeds 
of  Sales. 

Total 
Income. 

Number  of 
Publicat'ns 
Circulated. 

Auxiliary  Bible  Societies,  .    .    . 
Christian  Tract  &  Book  Societies, 
Christian  Literature  Societies,  . 

6 

7 
3 

Rs. 

47,475 
61,097 

80,977 

Rs. 

198,688 
78,105 
91,189 

503,078 

4,752,425 

893,560 

Total,.    . 

16 

189,549 

367,982 

6,149,063 

Appendix  373 

VI. — ^List   of  Missionary   Societies    in    India, 
Burmah  and  Ceylon. 


I.  Baptist  Missions. 


Baptist  Missionary  Society. 
Baptist  Zenana  Missionary  Society. 
American  Baptist  Missionary  Union. 
American  Free  Will  Baptist  Missionary  Society. 
Australasian  Baptist  Missions,  viz.,  of 

( 1 )  New  South  Wales, 

(2)  New  Zealand, 

(3)  Queensland, 

(4)  South  Australia, 

(5)  Tasmania, 

(6)  Victoria. 
Bethel  Santal  Mission. 
Canadian  Baptist  Missions,  viz.,  of 

(1)  Canadian  Maritime  Provinces, 

(2)  Ontario  and  Quebec. 
Foreign  Christian  Missions. 
Foreign  Christian  Women's  Mission. 
Indian  Home  Mission. 

South  India  Strict  Baptist  Mission. 

2.  Congregational  Missions. 

American  Board  of  Commissioners  for  Foreign  Missions — 3 

Missions. 
London  Missionary  Society — 3  Missions. 

3.  Church  of  England  Societies. 
Church  Missionary  Society. 
Church  of  England  Zenana  Missionary  Society. 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel. 
S.  P.  G.  Ladies'  Association. 
Dent  Mission,  Calcutta. 
Diocesan  Hyderabad  Mission. 

4.  Presbyterian  Societies. 
American  Reformed  Presbyterian  Mission. 
Canadian  Presbyterian  Mission. 
Church  of  Scotland  Mission. 
Church  of  Scotland  Guild  ( Universities)  Mission. 
Church  of  Scotland  Ladies'  Association. 
Dutch  Reformed  Presbyterian  Mission. 
German  Evang.  Mission  of  North  America. 
Original  Sec.  Synod  of  Church  of  Scotland. 


274  Appendix 


Presbyterian  Church  of  England. 

Presbyterian  Church  of  Ireland. 

Presbyterian  Church  of  the  United  States  of  America. 

Reformed  Church  of  America. 

United  Free  Church  of  Scotland. 

United   Presbyterian   Church   of    the    United     States  of 

America. 
Welsh  Calvinistic  Methodist  Mission. 

5.  Methodist  Missions. 

American  Methodist  Episcopal  Church  Mission. 
Wesleyan  Missionary  Society. 

6.  Lutheran  Missions. 
American  Evangelical  Lutheran  Mission. 
Basle  German  Evangelical  Mission. 
Danish  Lutheran  Mission. 

Foreign  Mission  Board  American  Lutheran  Church. 
German  Evangelical  Lutheran  Mission. 
Hermansburg  Lutheran  Mission. 
Leipzig  Evangelical  Lutheran  Mission. 

7.  Moravians  and  Friends. 
Episcopal  Moravian  (or  United  Brethren)  Mission. 
Friends'  Foreign  Mission. 

8.  Other  Missions 
American  Mennonite  Mission. 
American  Women's  Union  Zenana  Mission. 
Balaghat  Mission. 
Bengal  Evangelistic  Mission. 
Ceylon  and  Indian  General  Mission. 
Christian  Mission  Alliance. 
Dublin  University  Mission. 
Dunker  Brethren  Mission. 
Episcopal  Church  of  America  Mission. 
Henreatguda  Mission, 
Indigenous  Mission. 
Kollegal  Christian  Mission. 
Kurku  and  Centenary  India  Hill  Mission. 
Ludhiana  Mission. 

Missionary  Settlement  for  University  Women. 
Pentecostal  Mission. 
Poona  and  India  Village  Mission. 
Private  Mission,  Santal  Perghs. 
Regions  Beyond  Mission. 
Salvation  Army. 

Young  Men's  Christian  Association. 
Zenana  Bible  and  Medical  Mission. 


Index 


Index 


Administration,  Mission,  264- 
286 

Advaitha,  82 

Agency  employed  by  Hinduism 
and  Christianity,  9I 

Agents,  Mission,  304 

Aims  of  the  Two  Faiths,  87 

American  Effort  in  India,  179, 
329 

American  Board  of  Commission- 
ers for  Foreign  Missions,  180 

American  Push,  187 

Amir  Ali  Sahib,  345 

Anglo-Saxon  Effort  in  India,' 172 

Appliances,  Missionary,  300 

Army,  The,  44 

Aryans,  15,  289,  316 

Arya  Somaj,  313.  S^S*  349,  35' 

Asceticism  of  Hindus,  120 

«  Asia  and  Europe,"  335 

Atchison,  Sir  Charles,  191 

Australian  Effort,  177 

Avatar,  79 

Banerjee,  Kali  Churn,  295,  316 
Banerjee,  Dr.  K.  M.,  316 
Banerjee,  Surendra  Nath,  5 1 
Baptism — shall  it  be  administered 

immediately  upon   confession  ? 

290 
Baptism — shall  it  be  administered 

secretly?  291 
Baptism — shall  ladies  administer  ? 

292 
Baptists,  American,  292,  309 
Barth,  69,  82,  94 
Basil  Mission,  285 


Benevolence    of    Native    Chris- 
tians, 225 
Besant,  Mrs.  Annie,  344 
Bhagavada  Gita,  96,  124 
Bhakti,  Doctrine  of,  76 
Bible — Influence  of,  90 
Bible,  Translated,  178,  301 
Bowen,  Rev.  George,  202 
Brahm,  84 
Brahmo  Somaj,  349 
Buddha,  The,  59 
Buddhism,  54 
Burma,  181 

Canadian  Effort,  188 

Carey,  William,  173 

Caste,  26-107,  124 

Caste  and  Government,  340 

Caste   in  the  Church,   131,  171, 

270,  271 
Ceremonialism,  121,  122 
Chaitanya,  65 
Character  of  Native   Christians, 

320 
Child  Marriages,  25,  154 
Christian  Community,  The,  307 
Christian  Science,  293 
Christian  Schools,  354 
Christianity  and  Hinduism  Conr 

trasted,  80 
Chunder  Sen,  150 
Church  Missionary  Society,  174 
Clarke,  Dr.  W.  N.,  267 
Climates  of  India,  14 
Comparison  of  present  and  past 

Methods  of  Work,  188 
Comparative  Religion,  209 


377 


378 


INDEX 


Contrast  of  the  two  Faiths,  88 
Contrast  of  the  two  Races,  46 
Converts  —  from     what      Social 

Strata?  315 
Cooperation  among  Missions,  238 
Coronation    Address    of    Indian 

Christians,  86 
Credentials    of    Hinduism    and 

Christianity,  183 

Danish,  173 

Demonolatry,  63 

Denmark,  168 

Direction  of  Missions,  234 

Discipling  the  Nations,  266 

Dress  and  Food  of  the  Missionary, 

199 
Du  Bois,  The  Abbe,  200,  201 
Dra  vidians,  15 
Drink  Evil,  The,  42 
Duff,  Alexander,  175 
Dutch,  178 
Dutt,  Toru,  322 

East  and  West,  297 
East   India   Company,  176,  180, 
360 

Eastern  Thought,  141 

Economic  Conditions,  18 

Economic  Problems,  282 

Educated  Classes  and  Christ,  357 

Educated  Classes  and  Western 
Thought,  353,  356 

Education,  27,  193,  248,  277,  280 

Education  of  Christians,  its  Ex- 
tent, 281 

Emancipation  of  Woman,  159 

English  Missions,  1 75 

Eschatology,  75 

Ethnic  Faith,  109 

European  Effort  in  India,  178 

Evangelistic  Department,  242 

Evolution,  264 

Exclusive  Spirit  of  Christianity, 
108 

Faith  Missions,  231 

««  Failure  of  Missions,"  298 


Fairbairn,  Dr.,  121 
Family  Life,  24 
Famine,  21 
Fatalism,  122 
Frederick  IV,  King,  1 68 

Gautama,  59 

God,  Doctrine  of,  81 

Goreh,  Miss,  322 

Government,     The     Educational 

Department  of,  278 
Government  of  India,  37 
Government  Service,  34 
Grain  of  India,  15 

Hall,  Stanley  President,  281 
Haskell-Barrows  Lectureship,  186 
Harris,  Lord,  187 
Harrison,  Ex- President  Benjamin, 

323 
Heavens  and  Hells  of  Hinduism, 

88 
Hindu  Character,  125,  128 
Hindu  Joint  Family  System,  24, 

133 
Hinduism,  62 

Hinduism  Conservative,  107 
Hinduism  an  Ethnic  Faith,  109 
Hinduism — is  it  Tolerant  ?  310 
Hinduism  Transformed,  341 
History  of  Christianity  in  India, 

163 
Hopkins,  69 

Humility   necessary  to   the   Mis- 
sionary, 213 
Hymnology  of  India,  302 

Ideals  of  the  Two  Faiths,  10 1 
Ideals  of  the  Hindu,  118 
Incarnation,  72,  94 
Independent     Work    of    Indian 

Christians,  326 
Individualism  in  Missions,  236 
Industrial  Mission,  179 
Industrial  Problems,  282 
Infanticide,  158 

Influence  of  Woman  in  India,  148 
Inter-caste  Marriages,  274 


INDEX 


379 


Irrigation  Schemes,  22 
Islam,  The  New,  345 

Jaffna  Mission,  182 
Jones,  Sir  William,  82 
Jordanus,  166 
Judaism,  55 
Judson,  Adoniram,  181 

Kali,  66 

Kalki  Avatar,  78 

Karma,  92 

Kipling,  Rudyard,  212 

Languages,  16 

Last    Commission   of  our   Lord, 

265 
Laws  of  India  Changed,  337 
Leaven  of  Christianity,  332 
Leipzig  Lutheran  Mission,  178 
Length    of    Missionary   Service, 

203 
Lex  talionis,  1 1 1 
Life  of  the  Missionary,  197 
Literacy,  27 
Literary  Work,  252 
Literature,  Christian,  301 
London  Missionary  Society,  174 
Love — a  Missionary  Qualification 

213 
Lyall,  Sir  Alfred,  387 

Macedonian  Cry,  219 
Mackensie,  Sir  Alexander,  320 
Madras  Native  Christian  Associ 

ation,  324 
Madura  Mission,  182,  325 
Magna  Charta  of  Missions,  180 
Mahabarata,  144 
Mahratta  Mission,  18 1 
Man,  Doctrines  concerning,  85 
Manu,  Code,  108 
Marriage  among  Hindus,  156 
Martyn,  Henry,  174 
Mass  Movements,  308,  346 
Matheson,  Dr.,  70 
McKinley,  President,  336 
Medical  Work,  255 


Metempsychosis,  97 

Methodist,  American,  1 84,  309 

Miller,  Dr.  William,  299,  355 

Mills,  Samuel,  179 

Mission  Administration,  286 

Mission  Agents,  304 

Mission  of  Great  Britain  in  India, 

45  .    . 

Mission  Enterprise  as  a  Christian 

Principle,  230 
Mission  Schools,  29,  277 
Missionary,  The,  193 
Missionary  and  the  Mission,  222 
Missionary   and    Missionary    So- 
cieties, 219 
Missionary  Appliances,  300 
Missionary's  Attitude  towards  the 

Non-Christian  World,  215 
Missionary  as  an  Organizer,  224 
Missionary  Organization,  228 
Missionary  Results,  298 
Missionary  Societies,  228 
Missionary  Success — What  is  it  ? 

298 
Mohammedanism,56  ,  345 
Moral   Standards  of  Christianity 

and  Hinduism,  no 
Morality  and  Piety,  135 
,    Motive  of  Missionary,  215,  265 
Motives   of    Christian    Converts, 

312 
Mozumdar,  Protab,  350 
Muir,  Sir  W.,  191 
Muller,  Max,  67 
■    Multiplication  of  Missionary  Ac- 
tivities, 284 

National  Congress,  34 
Native  Christian,  126 
Native  Christian  Character,  130 
Native  Christian  Community,  307, 

318 
Native  Christian  Women,  320 
Native  Church  and  Evangelism, 

244 
Native   Officials— Their  Attitude 

Towards  Mission  Schools,  279 
Native  States,  39 


38o 


INDEX 


Neo-Hinduism,  344 
Newcastle,  Bishop  of,  330 
New  Converts,  288 
New    Religious     Movements    in 
India,  348 

Obscenity  in  the  East,  126,  340 
Offerings    of    Native    Christians, 

325 
Opium  Traffic,  42 
Organic  Structure  of  a  Mission, 

240 
Organizations      of      the     Native 

Church,  259 
Oriental  Christianity,  296 
Origin  of  Hinduism,  70 

PANTiENUS,  164 

Parseeism,  57 

Passive  Virtues  of  India,  127 

Pastoral  Work  in  Missions,  245 

Path  of  Works,  I2i 

Patience,   an   Equipment   of  the 

Missionary,  212 
"  Patriot,  The  Christian,"  325 
Pax  Britanica,  44 
People  of  India,  15 
Persecution,  309,  315 
Pessimism  of  Hinduism,  89 
Physical  Features  of  India,  13 
Physical  Fitness  of  the  Missionary, 

194 
Plato,  90 
Plutscho,  167 

Political  Condition  of  India,  31 
Polygamous  Converts,  288 
Poverty  of  Christians,  312 
Poverty  of  the  Land,  19 
Prakriti,  85 
Prartanei  Somaj,  349 
Preaching    to   the    Heathen — Its 

Character,  245 
Prepossessions  of  a  Hindu,  116 
Presbyterian  Mission,  182 
Problems,  Missionary,  263 
Problems  Concerning  New  Con- 
verts, 288 


Products  of  Christianity  and  Hin- 
duism, 114 

Profanity,  East  and  West,  126 

Progressive  Spirit  of  Christianity, 
108 

Property  of  Missions  in  India, 
300 

Protestant  Christian  Effort,  1 66 

Provincial  Governments,  39 

Puranas,  94,  105,  343 

Railroads  in  India,  22 
Ramabai,  Pandita,  321,  327 
Ramanuja,  66 
Reactionary  Spirit  in  India,  293, 

295 
Religions  of  India,  54 
Religious  Instruction  in  Mission 

Schools,  280 
Religious  Mendicancy,  20,  120 
Religious  Toleration,  54,  109 
Rest  and  Recreation  for  Mission- 
aries, 195 
Results,  Missionary,  298,  332 
Revival  of  Thought  in  India,  293 
Right  of  the  Christian  Church  to 

Send  Missionaries,  264 
Rivers  of  India,  14 
Robert  de  Nobilibur,  167 
Robson,  Dr.,  72,  344 
Roman  Catholic  Effort  in  India, 

165 
Roman  Catholics  and  Caste,  271 
Rural  People,  Hindus  a,  18 

Saivism,  64 

Sakti  Worship,  66 

Salvation  Army,  176,  200 

Sanskrit,  16 

Sattianathan,  Mrs.,  323 

Schools    for    Christian   Children, 

249 
Schools  for  Non-Christians,  248 
Schools,  Mission,  303 
Schultze,  169 
Schwartz,  170 
Scottish  Missions,  175 


INDEX 


381 


Self-Extension  of  the  Native 
Church,  260 

Self-Government  of  the  Native 
Church,  32,  259 

Self-Support  of  the  Native  Church, 
261,  274 

Sell,  Dr.  E.,  345 

Serampore,  173 

Shanars,  308 

Sherring,  Rev.,  17 1 

Sikhism,  61 

Sin,  Hindu  and  Christian  Con- 
ception of,  89 

Singh,  Sir  Harnam,  317 

Sita,  145 

Slater,  Rev.  G.  T.  E.,  357 

Social  Life  in  India,  23,  26 

Sorabjis,  The,  322 

Soul,  Doctrine  of,  86 

S.  P.  C.  K.,  170 

S.  P.  G.,  172 

«  Spirit  of  Islam,"  345 

Spirituality  of  Hinduism,  74 

Spiritual  Qualifications  of  the 
Missionary,  210 

Statistics,  Religious,  55 

Strachey,  Sir  John,  159 

Study  of  Christian  Missions,  267 

Supreme  Soul,  86 

Survival  of  the  Fittest,  264 

Syrian  Church  of  Malabar,  165 

Tamil  Bible,  178 

Tantras,  105,  343 

Taxation  in  India,  40 

Telegu  Baptist  Mission,  309 

Theological  Seminaries,  244 

Theology  of  the  Missionary,  205. 

Theosophy,  293 

Thoburn,  Bishop,  185,  206,  277, 

309 
Thomas,  St.,  163 


Tinnevelly  Mission,  308 

Toleration,  Religious,  310 

Townsend,  Meredith,  335 

Training  of  the  Missionary,  204 

Tranquebar,  167 

Triad,  Hindu,  65 

Turanians  of  South  India,  316 

Universe,  Doctrine  of  the,  84 

Vaishnava  Sects,  65 

Vaishnavism,  65 

Vasco  da  Gama,  166 

Vedantism,  67 

Vernaculars    of   India    and    the 

Missionary,  208 
Vicarious  Atonement,  73 

Webb,  Rev.  E.,  302 

Wifely  Devotion,  145 

Williams,  Sir  Monier,  85 

Wilson,  Dr.,  176 

Witness  Bearing,  266 

Women  of  India,  143,  147,  15 1, 
320 

Women  of  India,  their  Disabili- 
ties, 152 

Women  in  Missionary  Organi- 
zation, 237 

Work  for  Women,  256 

Xavier,  166 

Yesuthasan,  302 

Yoga,  93,  119 

Young,  Work  for  the,  185,  257, 

329 
Young,  Sir  William  Mackworth, 
227 

ZlEGENBALG,  1 67 


India's  problem  Krishna  or  Christ, 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


00018 


